According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 45.5% percentage points (pp) by June 2022, up from last year’s percentage of 36.7% while the average room rate in dollars currency has increased by 12.3% to stand at $66 by June 2022.
On a monthly performance, Beirut occupancy rate progressed by 6.4% in June 2022 compared to June 2021, to reach 60.4%. The average room rate in dollars has increased by 28% from $59 in June 2021 to reach $75 in June 2022, whereas in the Lebanese pound, average room rate has increased by 107.9% to reach LBP 2,105,852 in June 2022. In turn, RevPAR (Revenue per available room) increased by 43.1% in USD during the same period; $22 in June 2021 to $30 in June 2022 while in Lebanese pound, the RevPAR added 132.5% to stand at LBP 1,272,419 in June 2022.
On a regional level, the occupancy rates in Dubai overall increased by 15% yearly to 74.5%. By the same token, the Average room rate and Room yields both increased by 37.6% and 72.4% to stand at $350 and $261, respectively by June 2022.
Furthermore, in KSA, Riyadh’s hotel occupancy rate increased by 11.8% to reach 61.8% by June 2022, and average room rate added 31.5% to $172 by the same period. However, for Makkah city, the Average room rate decreased by 5.9% to reach $183.
Moreover, in Amman, occupancy rate added 22.8% to reach 43% by June 2022, average room rate increased by 19.2% to reach $144 per night; likewise room yield grew by 154.3% to reach $62.
Tourists and expatriates are increasingly travelling to Lebanon in its high season of summer, in fact, the number of airport passengers increased yearly by 77.88% in June 2022. In parallel, the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5- star hotels reached 45.5% by June 2022, thus it seems that people are rather choosing to spend their vacations at guesthouses, AirB&B or hotels outside of Beirut.
Source: EY, BlomInvest