12 January 2011

BEIRUT: Ernst & Young’s benchmark survey of the Middle East hotel sector indicated that the average occupancy rate at hotels in Beirut was 69 percent in the first 11 months of 2010, decreasing from 73 percent in the same period last year, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.

The occupancy rate at Beirut hotels was the 11th highest among 19 markets in the region, while it was the 7th highest in the first 11 months of 2009.

The survey reported that the average rate per room at hotels in the capital city was $259 in the first 11 months of the year, making the capital’s hotels as the seventh most expensive hotels in the region.

The average rate per room at Beirut hotels decreased by 4.6 percent to $259 year-on-year and posted the second steepest decrease among all markets in the region, behind Riyadh. The average rate per room in Beirut came above the regional average of $200, which declined by 2.2 percent from $204 in the same period of 2009.

Occupancy rates in Beirut hotels were 64 percent in January, 76 percent in February, 68 percent in March, 79 percent in April, 71 percent in May, 77 percent in June, 80 percent in July, 43 percent in August, 53 percent in September and 73 percent in November 2010 compared to 85 percent in January, 76 percent in February, 74 percent in March, 81 percent in April, 68 percent in May, 69 percent in June, 87 percent in July, 75 percent in August, 62 percent in September, 71 percent in October and 73 percent in November 2009.

Beirut hotels had an occupancy rate of 73 percent for all of 2009.

Further, revenues per available room (RevPAR) were $178 in Beirut in the first 11 months of 2010, down from $182 in the same period last year, ranking it in third place in the region after Dubai-Beach and Makkah. Beirut’s RevPAR was down 1.9 percent year-on-year compared to a decrease of 1.7 percent across the region.

Makkah posted the highest average room rate in the region at $310 and Dubai-Beach the highest RevPAR at $243, while Sharm El-Shaikh along with Hurghada posted the highest occupancy rate at 86 percent each in the first 11 months of the year. – The Daily Star

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.