The Number of Airport Passengers Up by a yearly 72.48% in October 2021

The activity at Rafic Hariri International Airport improved in the first 10 months of the year owing to a rough summer season and holidays, where Lebanese diaspora and shy tourism presence were noticed during this period. Consequently, the number of Beirut’s International airport passengers went up by 72.48%, as it recorded 3.52 million (M) passengers in October 2021 compared to 2.04M passengers during the same period last year.

The breakdown of the airport’s statistics revealed that total arrivals added 82.14% year-on-year (YOY) to hit 1.67 million by October 2021. By the same token, the number of departing passengers climbed by a yearly 69.10% to reach 1,787,678 over the same period. Nevertheless, transit passengers slightly decreased from 67,720 by October 2020 to 63,987 passengers by October 2021. Interesting to see whether this activity will carry to the holiday season. Especially given the low bookings so far in the country’s hospitality sector.

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 37% by June 2021, up from last year’s registered 17% during the same period. Furthermore, the average room rate has increased by 315.2% from $121 in June 2020 to $502 in June 2021, which led to an upsurge in RevPAR (Revenue per available room) growth of 5,219.9% during the same period; from $5 to $271 in June 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 October

The Number of Airport Passengers Up by a yearly 72.48% in October 2021

Source: Beirut International Airport, BlomInvest

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