When looking at the monthly hotel occupancy rates published by E&Y’s Hotel Benchmark Survey, Beirut’s hotel occupancy rate registered an increase from 64% in May 2015 to 66% in May 2016. In fact, the relatively stable security situation back in 2015 boosted tourism activity and that extended into the first months of 2016. However, as the security scene recently got shaken again, it would be interesting to see if the hotel occupancy rates around the Fitr Holiday will be negatively impacted.
On a year-to-date basis, Beirut’s hotel hotel occupancy rate fell only slightly from 57% by May 2015 to 56% by May 2016. This downtick was accompanied by a drop of 17.5% in the average room rate, as it declined from $166 by May 2015 to $137 by May 2016, the worst performance in the region. Accordingly, the rooms’ yield fell by 18.4 % y-o-y to stand at $78 for the five months of the year 2016.
On the regional level, by May 2016, the highest hotel occupancy rates were recorded by the cities of the United Arab of Emirates (UAE), as they ranged from 74% to 87%. The UAE hospitality market sustained the high hotel occupancy levels during the five months of 2016 when compared to the same time last year.
Moreover, Cairo witnessed the highest increase in hotel occupancy rates of 13 percentage points (p.p), followed by Ras al-Khaimah with 8.6 p.p. As a result of the increasing demand on Cairo’s hotel, the average room rate jumped 21.9% from $103 by May 2015 to $126 by May 2016. The significant increase in prices and average room rates can be linked to the Egyptian government’s focus on ameliorating the tourism sector. Over the same period, Kuwait was the worst performer in the region with a significant drop in hotel occupancy rates of 14 p.p to 44%.
Monthly Hotel occupancy Rates in Beirut
Source: E&Y Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey