According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, the occupancy rate in Lebanon’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 65.20% by November 2019, compared to 64.60% during the same period last year.
In details, Beirut’s higher hotel occupancy rate was accompanied by annual upticks in Beirut’s average room rate and rooms yield, which climbed from $186 and $120 by November 2018 to $202 and $132 by November 2019, respectively. However, the demonstrations that have convulsed Lebanon since mid-October, have led to a drop in all KPI parameters during the month of November alone. In details, Beirut’s hospitality market witnessed an 81.6% annual decrease in RevPAR to $23 in November 2019(the lowest in more than 3 years). This significant decline was stemmed from an occupancy decrease of 50.5 percentage points to 18.0% in November 2019, conjoined with an ADR drop of 30.0% in November 2019 when compared to the same period last year. The subdued performance for Beirut’s hospitality sector is expected to continue in the short to medium term until the socio-political situation is stabilized within the country.
Regionally, Abu Dhabi’s hospitality market recorded upticks across the board. It saw an increase in Occupancy by 3 percentage points to 78.8% by November 2019. Similarly, ADR also increased by 1.9% to $101, resulting in an increase in RevPar by 5.8% to US$80. The positive performance of Abu Dhabi’s hospitality market can be mainly related to the success of several events like Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference, and Abu Dhabi Culinary Season. The future performance also shows a positive outlook in line with a plenty of upcoming major events like Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival, Winterfest as a part of ‘Christmas in Abu Dhabi 2019’, New Year’s Eve events and The Emirates Society of Emergency Medicine Conference (ESEM 2019). Moreover, the upcoming Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal with an annual passenger capacity of 45 million is also expected to contribute to the hospitality market performance in the long term.
Meanwhile, Dubai witnessed a drop across all its KPIs. The city’s hotel occupancy rate decreased by 0.5 p.p. to 74.5% by November 2019. As such, average room rate and rooms yield declined by a yearly 14.6% and 15.1%, to $222 and $165, respectively over the same period. However, worth mentioning that Dubai still managed to maintain the highest ADR and RevPAR performance within the region.
Monthly Occupancy Rates in Beirut 4-&5-Star Hotels
Source: E&Y Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey