According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, Lebanon recorded the second largest year-on-year (y-o-y) improvement in its occupancy rate by July, after Egypt. This is in parallel with the fact that tourist activity increased by 15% y-o-y by June of this year, despite the shaky political situation in the country. Accordingly, Lebanon’s occupancy rate increased by 9 percentage points (p.p.) to 56% in the first 7 months of 2015, while Egypt’s occupancy rate improved by 16 p.p. to 47%, recording the highest annual improvement. The latter development mainly was on the back of the better economic and political outlook in Egypt from last year, illustrated by the economic summit that took place in March. The third largest rise in occupancy rates, by July, was depicted in Doha and Kuwait, as they respectively increased by 1 p.p. each to 71% and 51%.
Over the same period, the largest downturn in the occupancy rate was in Amman, Jordan which lost 9 p.p yearly to 56% followed by Mekkah, Saudi Arabia which registered a decrease of 7 p.p y-o-y to 53% by July. These falls might have been due to the increased political turmoil in both countries, following the participation in airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen in the first quarter of the year. The third biggest loser was Manama, Bahrain which lost a yearly 2 p.p to 46%.
Worth mentioning, Dubai remained the highest regarding the occupancy rate in the region, with a 79% rate.
Concerning Lebanon’s average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPar), they jumped by 5.4% and 23.7% to $179 and $101, respectively. In Cairo, the ADR surged 32.3% to $108, while its RevPar doubled to reach $51 by July of this year. Not surprisingly, Dubai’s ADR and RevPar were the utmost in the region at $261 and $208 respectively, despite losing 6.6% and 5.8% y-o-y, over the same period.
Looking at the month of July alone, Beirut jumped by 21 p.p to 56% from July 2014, with RevPAR gaining 6.8% to $199 while the ADR enhanced from $65 to $113, over the same period. Worth mentioning, Eid El Fitr taking place in the month of July contributed to the jump recorded this year coupled with three explosions that occurred at the end of June last year.
Lebanon’s Monthly Occupancy Rate
Source: EY Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey