Lebanon’s Occupancy Rate Progressed to 56% by August

According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, amongst the MENA countries Lebanon’s occupancy rate stood 4th at 56% by August, ahead of Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, while losing to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Notably, Dubai still leads with a 79% rate   by the 8th month of the year.

Lebanon’s occupancy rate increased by 7 percentage points (p.p.) to 56% in the first 8 months of 2015, while Cairo’s occupancy rate edged up by 14 p.p. to 47%, registering the highest annual improvement. It’s worth mentioning that these improvements follow a low base considering the uncertainly pertaining to the Lebanese and Egyptian political scenes. The latter development mainly is attributed to the better economic and political outlook in Egypt since last year. The third largest rise in occupancy rates, by August, was depicted in Jeddah and Madina, as they respectively increased by 2 p.p. each to 78% and 77%, factoring in the Eid pilgrimage.

Over the same period, the largest downturn in 4 and 5 star hotels’ occupancy rate was in Amman, Jordan, which lost 9 p.p yearly to 54% followed by Mekkah, Saudi Arabia which also recorded the same yearly decrease to 49% by August. These falls might have been due of the heightened political risk in both countries, following the participation in airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The third biggest loser was Manama, Bahrain which lost a yearly 3 p.p to 46%.

Concerning Lebanon’s average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPar), they added 4.7% and 20.0% to $180 and $102, respectively. In Cairo, the ADR surged 27.1% to $110, while it’s RevPar increased by more than two thirds to reach $53 up to August of this year. Not surprisingly, Dubai’s ADR and RevPar were the highest in the region at $249 and $198 respectively, despite losing 6.9% and 6.2% y-o-y, over the same period.

Looking at the month of August alone, Beirut remained at 61% , same level recorded in August 2014, with RevPAR gained 1.8% to $185 while the ADR augmented by 1.6% to $114. 

Lebanon’s Monthly Occupancy Rate

Lebanon’s Occupancy Rate Progressed to 56% by August

Source: EY Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey

 

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