| 26 Jul 2010 |
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Abu Dhabi hotels drag down UAE occupancy
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DUBAI -- Dragged down by a weak performance by Abu Dhabi hotels, average daily rates and occupancy level in the UAE fell in June, but overall, the Middle East hotels retained the highest average daily rates at $201, the latest data from industry monitoring agency STR Global revealed.
The Middle East, the only region globally to see declines in occupancy and room rates in the first half of 2010, also achieved the highest figure for revenue per available room (revPAR) in the world in the first half of the year at $125.
"The first six months of 2010 saw a mixed performance across Middle East/Africa", said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. Weighed by Abu Dhabi hotels' continued declines, occupancy rates in the UAE were down by more than seven percent at 58.6 per cent, the report said.
Average daily hotel rates in the UAE fell to Dh563.69 in June, a decline of 9.2 per cent on the same month in 2009 while revPAR also fell by nearly 16 per cent to Dh330.32.
Abu Dhabi reported the largest decreases in all three key performance metrics, STR Global said.
The market's occupancy fell 23.8 per cent to 54.9 per cent, average daily rates (ADR) dropped 29.2 per cent to $157.41, and RevPAR decreased 46.1 per cent to $86.46. In Saudi Arabia, occupancy levels were down by eight percent in June compared to the same month last year.
The UAE accounts for almost half the number of the region's hotel rooms in the pipeline, comprising 54,814 rooms, which STR Global contends debunks the widely perceived notion that tourism demand would not return to pre-crisis levels.
The UAE also reported the most rooms in the construction phase with 29,292 rooms, STR said in another report released in June.
Africa's improving results boosted the region's overall performance, ending year-to-date with a 2.6-percent RevPAR increase.
"The Middle East was the only sub region globally that still saw both occupancy and ADR declines for the first half. Nonetheless, Middle Eastern hotels still achieved the highest ADR ($201) and RevPAR ($125) of all the global sub regions," Randall said.
South African hotels enjoyed large increases in all three performance metrics in June, STR Global said.
Beirut, Lebanon, was the only other key market to report an occupancy increase -- up 22.6 per cent to 69.3 per cent. According to STR Global, the global recession had its impact on the region's hotel development pipeline, which has shrunk by nearly 2,600 rooms since April.
The data from STR Global for June has shown that the region's pipeline of planned hotels stood at 455 properties totalling 126,310 rooms. This compared to 467 hotels in the development phase in April and nearly 129,000 rooms.
© Khaleej Times 2010
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