Following the political unrest and the worldwide pandemic, Beirut Airport activity retracted by 65.91% year-on-year (YOY) in February 2021 as tourism activity almost ceased along with the economy.
Accordingly, the number of passengers was reduced drastically, falling from 1,020,482 passengers by February 2020 to 347,871 passengers by February 2021. In details, total arrivals alone dropped by an annual 70.33% reaching 134,471 arrivals. By the same token, departures decreased by 62.49% (YOY) to 201,881 passengers. In its turn, the number of transit passengers also slipped by a yearly 60.41% to 11,519 passengers by February 2021.
In addition, data on occupancy as per E&Y benchmark survey revealed that the occupancy rate at Beirut’s 4- and 5- stars hotels fell to a low of 18% by December 2020. And the average room rate rose by 134.4% from $92 in December 2019 to $216 in December 2020. However, the increase is inflated by valuing the room rates at the overvalued official exchange rate of 1,500 LBP per USD
Expectedly, Beirut Airport activity will continue decreasing in the upcoming months. In turn, the number of tourists is not going to improve as the world is still struggling from the pandemic, in addition to the worsening instability in the country.
Beirut’s Airport Activity By February 2021
Source: Beirut International Airport, BlomInvest