Positive March 2015 Performance for Hotel Industry in Middle East And Africa

The Middle East/Africa region reported positive year-over-year results in two of the three major performance metrics during March 2015 when reported in U.S. dollars, according to data compiled by STR Global.

The Middle East/Africa region reported positive year-over-year results in two of the three major performance metrics during March 2015 when reported in U.S. dollars, according to data compiled by STR Global. 

The region reported a 3.2-percent increase in occupancy to 68.7 percent and a 0.7-percent rise in revenue per available room to US$118.04. Average daily rate, however, decreased 2.3 percent to US$171.82. 

When looking at the three Middle East/Africa sub-regions, Northern Africa posted the top increases in all three performance metrics when reported in U.S. dollars. The sub-region experienced a 15.1-percent increase in occupancy to 52.2 percent, an 8.9-percent increase in ADR to US$93.49 and a 25.3-percent rise in RevPAR to US$48.78. 

Amongst the key countries in the region, Egypt experienced the highest increases in both ADR (+32.9 percent to US$86.64) and RevPAR (+61.5 percent to US$45.28). 

Lebanon saw the highest increase in occupancy, up 27.0 percent to 48.5 percent. The country’s demand has increased for 11 consecutive months after the Gulf Cooperation Council lifted travel advisories in May 2014.   

Morocco reported the steepest declines in both RevPAR (-23.4 percent to US$64.11) and ADR (-23.6 percent to US$109.83). 

Highlights among the Middle East/Africa region’s key markets for March 2015 include (year-over-year comparisons, all currency in U.S. dollars):

  • Cairo, Egypt, reported the largest increase in occupancy, up 38.2 percent to 51.6 percent. Beirut, Lebanon, followed with a 26.7-percent increase to 49.0 percent.
  • Amman, Jordan, experienced the largest decrease in occupancy, down 18.0 percent to 54.6 percent.
  • Doha, Qatar (+11.4 percent to US$207.22) and Manama, Bahrain (+9.6 percent to US$219.69) posted the largest increases in ADR.
  • Muscat, Oman, saw the largest drop in ADR, down 9.2 percent to US$228.06.
  • Two markets reported RevPAR increases of more than 30.0 percent: Cairo, Egypt (+41.2 percent to US$53.84) and Beirut (+31.9 percent to US$72.98).
  • Amman experienced the largest decrease in RevPAR, down 20.3 percent to US$88.20. 

Performances of key countries in March 2015* (all monetary units in local currency):

Country

Occ

% change

ADR

% change

RevPAR

% change

Egypt

52.3%

+21.5%

EGP661.42

+43.6%

EGP345.70

+74.5%

Saudi Arabia

71.3%

+0.3%

SAR701.33

+1.4%

SAR500.26

+1.7%

South Africa

68.7%

+4.1%

ZAR1,098.10

+6.4%

ZAR753.89

+10.7%

United Arab Emirates

82.6%

-1.0%

AED815.12

-4.2%

AED673.58

-5.1%

*percentages are increases/decreases for March 2015 versus March 2014

 

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STR Global provides clients – including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry – access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, STR Analytics and Hotel News Now. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.