According to Ernst & Young Middle East hotel benchmark survey, the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 46.4% percentage points (pp) by October 2023, down from last year’s percentage of 51.1%. It is important to acknowledge that the occupancy rate in Beirut 4 and 5 stars hotels experienced a decline in October especially after the eruption of the conflict between Israel and Gaza due to Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. In fact, it has rapidly become a cross-border threat for the region given the heightened tensions between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel. Since the day of the attack, thousands of tourists and Lebanese living abroad have been considering to cancel their trip to Lebanon out of fear of a potential war erupting between Israel and Hezbollah.
In more details, the average room rate in dollars currency in Lebanon rose substantially by 151% to stand at $148, additionally the RevPAR increased by 127.98% to reach $69 for the month of October 2023.
On a regional level, hospitality markets in Dubai city and Madinah in KSA witnessed an increase across all performance indicators in October 2023 compared to October 2022. In more details, the occupancy rates in Dubai city added 6.4% to reach 81.2% while Madinah City occupancy rates added 3.7% to reach 75%. Madinah’s hospitality sector observed a remarkable RevPAR growth of 47% from $103 in October 2022 to $151 in October 2023. Meanwhile, average room rate in Madinah jumped by 39.8% from $144 in October 2022 to $202 by October 2023. As for Dubai city, the average room rate reached $468 October 2023, thus RevPAR increased by 8.7% to stand at $380 during the same period.
Source: EY, Blom Invest Bank
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