Tourism in Lebanon has been slowly getting back on its feet since the beginning of 2019 partly thanks to a diversification of tourist nationalities, but also to some promising political and economic developments which included plans to set a budget and reforms to kick start the economy.
According to the EY Middle East Benchmark Survey, Beirut’s hospitality market witnessed a growth in all KPIs. In details, occupancy recorded a significant increase, adding 13.2% percentage points (PP) to 73.7% by April 2019 . The Average Daily Rate (ADR) also rose from $174 by April 2018 to $193 by April 2019. This resulted in significant growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) from $105 to $142. In fact, the number of European tourists alone rose by 5.7% annually to 80,226 tourists by February 2019, while the number of passengers added an annual 2.73% to 1.75M over the same period. The improvement across the KPIs may also be linked to the KSA lifting its travel ban against Lebanon in February of this year. By February 2019, tourists from the KSA actually climbed from 6,009 to 10,041, knowing that they are the largest spenders.
Regionally, Cairo’s hospitality market also recorded upticks across the board. It saw an increase in Occupancy by 4.5 percentage points to 79.1% by April 2019. Similarly, ADR also increased by 6.1% to $111, resulting in an increase in RevPar by 12.5% to US$87. The strong performance of tourism in Egypt may be attributed to several tourism campaigns and stable macroeconomic conditions.
In turn, Dubai’s hospitality market witnessed a drop in all KPIs by April 2019. It saw a decrease in occupancy by 2.1 percentage points to 79.1% by April 2019 year-to-date. ADR also decreased by 12.9% to $282 resulting in a 15% decline in RevPar to $240. The drop can partly be explained by the opening of new luxury properties and hotels, resulting in an oversupply of hotels and lower ADRs.
Monthly Occupancy Rates in Beirut 4-&5-Star Hotels
Source: E&Y MiddleEast Benchmark Survey