Beirut’s International Airport welcomed 2.05million (M) passengers in the first 7 months of 2021 compared to 1.39M passengers during the same period last year.
The breakdown of the airport’s statistics revealed that total arrivals added 66.74% year-on-year (YOY) to hit 1.08 million by July 2021. By the same token, the number of departing passengers climbed by a yearly 31.30% to reach 924,150 over the same period. Meanwhile, transit passengers decreased from 44,112 by July 2020 to 42,968 passengers by July 2021.That the number of departure’s almost equal the number of arrivals during the height of the tourist season is an indication of the severity of the crisis and the desire of the Lebanese to escape it.
In addition, data on occupancy as per E&Y benchmark survey revealed that the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 35% by April 2021, down from last year’s registered 2% during the same period. Furthermore, the average room rate has increased by 242.9% from $81 in April 2020 to $279 in April 2021, which led to an upsurge in RevPAR (Revenue per available room) growth of 4,900.1% during the same period; from $2 to $97 in April 2021. Important to mention, that the increase is inflated by valuing the room rates at the official exchange rate of LBP 1,500 for USD.
Beirut’s Airport Activity By July
