The latest survey issued by Ernst and Young showed that Beirut witnessed the fourth highest increase in hotel occupancy rate for the first half of 2012, rising by 11.0 percentage points from the low base registered in the same period of last year. Indeed, occupancy in the Lebanese capital reached 65.0% in the first six months of 2012, compared with 54.0% recorded a year earlier. The increase registered comes directly after that of Amman (+24.0 percentage points), Sharm el Shaikh (+20.0) and Manama (+12.0) and is equal to that of Hurghada.
When it comes to the average room rate, Beirut reported a slight contraction of 0.1% year-on-year in the first six months of 2012. The average room rate in Beirut stood at US$ 207 during the first half of 2012, practically equal to that recorded in the same period of 2011. Still, this mere decline was at the lower end of those reported by several cities around the region. In fact, the drop registered by the Lebanon capital was surpassed by that of Cairo (-18.6%), Hurghada (-16.7%), Sharm El Shaikh (-15.6%), Abu Dhabi (-11.8%), Al Ain (-6.7%), Riyadh (-3.3%), Muscat (-1.8%), Doha (-1.6%), Makkah (-1.1%), Kuwait (-1.0%) and Manama (-0.2%).
With regards to rooms’ yields, an indicator that captures the overall revenue registered by each hotel room, Beirut registered the fifth highest rise of 20.9% to reach US$ 135 during the first six months of the 2012, against US$ 112 in the same period of 2011. The increase in the aforementioned indicator follows that of Manama (+47.6%), Amman (+46.5%), Madina (+25.8%) and Sharm El Shaikh (+22.6%).
Lebanon Weekly Monitor – Bank Audi
1 August
