PHOTO
MANAMA: Bahrain’s hotels have experienced double-digit decreases in occupancy levels from last year as a result of travel and visitor flow disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new report.
The new terminal will be four times larger than the current Bahrain airport terminal. Bahrain’s flag carrier too has high expectations from the new passenger terminal.
Gulf Air chief executive Krešimir Kuko told the GDN in an exclusive interview in January that the terminal would be an important addition to the airline’s “boutique strategy of offering a more personalised service to passengers, with unique travel experience from the moment the journey starts to the moment journey ends.” The latest Bahrain Economic Quarterly issued by the Finance and National Economy Ministry in June said tourism was the hardest hit sector during the first quarter of 2020.
The estimated gross value added in the hotels and restaurants sector fell by an annual 36pc, it said.
March 2020 data on inbound visitors reflected a major inflection point with arrivals through the King Fahd Causeway falling to 9.2pc of the tally recorded in March 2019, having recorded a 29.2pc year-on-year (YoY) increase in January 2020.
This resulted in the overall number of visitors during Q1-2020 to fall by 24.2pc YoY.
Additionally, both airport and port arrivals declined by 25.1pc and 39.1pc, respectively, in Q1-2020.
Expenditure
Statistics from Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority for Q1 2020 point to a sharp 47pc decline in the number of tourists, a 49.5pc decline in total tourist nights and a 55.4pc decline in total tourism expenditure.
Occupancy rates in five star hotels fell to 43pc, down from 53pc a year ago, with four star hotels seeing a similar decline to 36pc from 46pc a year ago.
In a statement posted on Bahrain Bourse after the group’s Q2 financials were announced, Gulf Hotels Group (GHG) chairman Farouk Almoayyed said, “The hospitality industry worldwide is one of the worst affected from the Covid-19 pandemic. Since March, various travel and quarantine restrictions together with restrictions on normal hotel, restaurant, health club and spa operations have had a significant impact on the group’s operations and profitability.”
The group has a total of 961 rooms in its Bahrain portfolio, across 4 hotels.
Likewise, Banader Hotels Company has, in a bourse statement, reported a decrease in operating income by BD923,210 for the six months ended June 30, as a result of the pandemic.
The company said the 243-room Downtown Rotana Hotel, owned by it and operated by Rotana Group, and other hotel facilities remained substantially closed from March to June this year.
National Hotels Company, the owner of Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa, said in its disclosure to BHB on the impact of Covid-19 that with the hotel and residential apartments operating at sub-optimal levels, coupled with the lack of sufficient demand, unremunerative room rates and guest cancellations, it has seen a decline of around BD1.4m in revenues as compared to the same period last year. For the Mena region as a whole, hotels are expected to see recovery starting in Q4 2020 and this will continue in 2021, forecasts Colliers.
The forecast assumes faster recovery for the UAE and Saudi Arabia markets. The UAE will benefit from the build-up to Expo Dubai with the actual event expected to start in Q4 2021.
In Saudi Arabia, once the expected recovery begins in Q4 2020, the markets are expected to continue benefiting from the ongoing tourism initiatives, upcoming mega projects as well as domestic tourism, the report says.
avinash@gdn.com.bh
© Copyright 2020 www.gdnonline.com
Copyright 2020 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
