LONDON—The Middle East/Africa region reported mixed results in the three key performance measurements for August 2010 when reported in U.S. dollars, according to data compiled by STR Global.
The region’s occupancy ended the month with a 9.4-percent decrease to 53.0 percent, average daily rate increased 7.4 percent to US$137.83, and revenue per available room fell 2.8 percent to US$73.05.
“Ramadan, which took place 11 August-9 September 2010, impacted the August results for the Middle East/Africa”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “August was the first month this year reporting an increase in ADR across the Middle East (+4.3 percent). Whilst one month doesn’t make a trend, it is a good sign to see the subregion finally picking up rate. The continuing increase in supply limits the short to medium-term recovery of occupancy. When considering the year-to-date results without the new supply which came on line in 2010, we get a small increase in occupancy. Post the excitement of the football World Cup, Africa reported a monthly decline in demand and occupancy levels”.
Highlights among the region’s key markets for August include (year-over-year comparisons, all currency in U.S. dollars):
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, experienced the only occupancy increase, rising 9.9 percent to 42.6 percent.
• Three markets reported occupancy decreases of more than 20 percent: Beirut, Lebanon (-37.3 percent to 47.1 percent); Cairo, Egypt (-25.0 percent to 43.1 percent); and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (-21.2 percent to 48.0 percent).
• Johannesburg, South Africa, rose 27.0 percent in ADR to US$105.84, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by Cape Town, South Africa, with a 17.5-percent increase to US$122.57.
• Abu Dhabi posted the largest ADR decrease, falling 28.0 percent to US$131.58.
• Three markets reported RevPAR increases for the month: Johannesburg (+17.2 percent to US$58.59); Riyadh (+11.4 percent to US$89.67); and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (+2.5 percent to US$137.41).
• Abu Dhabi (-43.3 percent to US$63.12) and Beirut (-43.2 percent to US$117.23) reported the largest RevPAR decreases.
Performances of key countries in August (all monetary units in local currency):
|
Country
|
Occupancy
|
% change
|
ADR
|
% change
|
RevPAR
|
% change
|
|
Egypt
|
62.7%
|
-8.2%
|
EGP439.73
|
+3.7%
|
EGP275.67
|
-4.8%
|
|
Saudi Arabia
|
54.7%
|
+10.1%
|
SAR864.74
|
+34.2%
|
SAR473.27
|
+47.8%
|
|
South Africa
|
50.6%
|
-10.5%
|
ZAR860.80
|
+12.7%
|
ZAR435.84
|
+0.9%
|
|
United Arab Emirates
|
50.9%
|
-17.9%
|
AED522.02
|
-8.7%
|
AED265.55
|
-25.0%
|
*percentages are increases/decreases for August 2010 vs. August 2009
View Global hotel review for August.
About STR Global:
STR Global provides clients—including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry—access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, RRC Associates, STR Analytics, and HotelNewsNow.com. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.
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