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Hotels in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea city of Jeddah has witnessed a slowdown after picking up in the previous months on the back of strong demand from international visitors.
Hotel occupancy levels in Jeddah, which is considered a gateway to the holy city of Mecca, averaged 54.5% in November, the lowest since April 2022, according to STR’s latest data.
Visitor traffic had picked up recently in Saudi Arabia as pilgrims from overseas returned to the kingdom for Hajj, particularly during the month of July, after two years since the pandemic began.
Last November, the average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) at hotels in Jeddah dropped to their lowest levels since February this year at SAR 586.71 ($156) and SAR 319.50, respectively.
However, STR noted that the hospitality sector continued to perform better compared to 2019, with each of the key performance metrics surpassing pre-COVID levels.
The busiest day for Jeddah hotels last month was November 30, when occupancy levels rose to 75.2%. That was the only day of the month that occupancy rates came in above 70%, STR said.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Mily Chakrabarty)
