Occupancy Rate of Beirut Hotels Rises to 61.6% in H1 2017

 According to the Ernst and Young  (EY) Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey, the occupancy rate of Beirut hotels rose from 55.1% in the first half of 2016 (H1 2016) to 61.6% in H1 2017.

Room yields in Beirut also rose from $75 in H1 2016 to $89 in H1 2017 while the average room rate increased from $136 to $145, over the same period.

The EY report attributes the positive performance in Beirut to “stabilized political conditions, enhanced security measures in the country and an increase in inbound travel due to removing the travel ban from GCC countries in Q1 2017. “

Inbound travel and stable political conditions also contributed to the 4.7 Percentage points (p.p) increase in the occupancy of Cairo hotels to 63.4%.

The average room rate and room yields in Cairo jumped from $45 and $27 in H1 2016 to $85 and $54 in H1 2017.

On the other hand, Riyadh’s hospitality market registered a poorer performance in H1 2017 than in H1 2016 with the Revenue per Available Room falling by a yearly 22 p.p to $98 in H1 2017. EY explains this by “Reduced demand within the corporate segment due to government and private sector spending restrictions”.

Lower demand in the segment of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE), business, leisure and religious tourism was also behind the poorer performance of Jeddah, where occupancy rates slid by a yearly 10 p.p from 74.1% in H1 2016 to 63.8% in H1 2017.

The diplomatic crisis between Doha on one hand and the UAE and KSA on the other hand negatively impacted Doha’s hospitality market. The travel restrictions to Doha from the UAE and KSA, occupancy levels in the month of June dropped by an annual 4.3p.p to 40.9%.

Monthly Average Room Rates and Revenue per Available RoomOccupancy Rate of Beirut Hotels Rises to 61.6% in H1 2017

Source: EY Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey

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