According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 42% by July 2021, up from last year’s registered 16% during the same period.
On a monthly performance, Beirut occupancy rate recorded an uptick of 64 percentage point (pp) in July 2021, compared to the same period last year, to reach 76% in July 2021. Furthermore, the average room rate has increased by 347.1% from $191 in July 2020 to $853 in July 2021, which led to an upsurge in RevPAR (Revenue per available room) growth of 2,739.3% during the same period; from $23 to $648 in July 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, while the black market was approximately LBP/USD 19,000 in July 2021.
On a regional level, the occupancy rates in Dubai overall increased by 17.7% year-to-date (YTD) to 59%. By the same token, the Average room rate and Room yields both increased by 7.9% and 54.5% to stand at $225 and $132, respectively by July 2021.
In turn, in KSA, Riyadh’s hotel occupancy rate decreased by 1.6% to 52%, and average room rate decreased by 10.7% to $129 by July 2021. However, for Makkah city, the Average room rate increased by 79.3% to $188.
Moreover, in Amman, occupancy rate dropped by 8.6% to 23% by July 2021, average room rate increased by 12.6% to reach $129 per night and room yield decreased by 17.8% to $30.
Beirut in the summer season was “shining”, as the occupancy rate grew by 64 percentage points in July 2021. Lebanon is now considered a cheap country due the devaluation of its national currency which is attracting new genres of tourist, especially European tourist. Whether this attraction will carry to this year’s holiday season is yet to be seen.
Source: EY, BlomInvest