The Lebanese hospitality and tourism sectors have been going through rough times since 2011.
According to the latest report published by Ernst & Young, Beirut’s hotel occupancy fell to 61% by July 2018, compared to 63.8% registered during the same period last year. Over the same period, the average room rate (ARR) dropped from $182 to $185 and the room yields fell from $116 to $113.
During the month of July alone, hospitality markets in Muscat and Jeddah witnessed a growth in all KPIs in July 2018 when compared to July 2017. In Muscat, the growth can be assigned to the high number of tourists (300,000) visiting the key cities of Salalah, Duqm and Muscat in the first five weeks of the tourist season. As such, Muscat’s hospitality market observed an increase in occupancy from 50.5% in July 2017 to 65.7% in July 2018.
Abu Dhabi’s hospitality market also saw occupancy increase by 6.8 percentage points (p,p) to 68.9% in July 2018 on account of the Abu Dhabi Summer Season (ADSS), launched by the Department of Culture and Tourism.
The new hotel revenue management program for hotel operators launched in Dubai in July by Dubai Tourism is expected to keep occupancy rates elevated in the emirate. In July 2018, occupancy rates at Dubai hotels increased by 2.8 p.p to 63.4%.
Monthly Occupancy Rates in Beirut’s 4- and 5- star Hotels
Source: EY Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey