According to E&Y’s Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey, Beirut’s hotel occupancy rate slightly declined from 54% in Q1 2015 to 53% in Q1 2016. The downtick in Beirut’s hotel occupancy may be attributed to GCC travel warnings against travelling to Lebanon. Accordingly, the lowest average room rate in the region was recorded in Lebanon, where it dropped from $166 by March 2015 to $139 by March 2016. The lower average room rate led to a drop in the room yields from $91 by March 2015 to $75 by March 2016.
The best performers in the region were Egypt and Bahrain, as Cairo’s and Manama’s hotel occupancy rates edged up by 12 p.p. and 6 p.p. yearly to 58% and 56%, respectively. The progress in these countries is mainly attributed to their relatively improving political situation. Over the same period, the largest downturns in 4 and 5 star hotels’ occupancy rate were recorded in Saudi cities, mostly Makkah and Madinah which decreased by 13 p.p. and 12 p.p.to 52% and 69%, respectively. Also, hotel occupancy rates in Kuwait fell by 16 p.p. yearly to 42%.This could be heavily linked to slower activity from the government and corporate markets due to lower oil prices.
Not surprisingly, the highest hotel occupancy rate of 87% was registered in Dubai. The Emirate’s ADR and RevPar remained the highest in the region at $292 and $255 respectively, despite the 7.7% and 9.1% yearly downticks witnessed over the same period.
Occupancy Rate of Beirut Hotels
Source: E&Y Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey