A year after the Arab Spring began, demand in Egypt, Bahrain, and the Levant region has yet to return, according to STR Global's 2011 year-end numbers.
In Cairo, Egypt, where demonstrations were widely broadcast, occupancy fell 29.5 percentage points to 36.1 percent in 2011, and the average daily rate (ADR) fell 3.3 percent to EGP706.26. Occupancy in the normally popular leisure destinations of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and Hurghada, Egypt, was 48.1 percent (-38.6%) and 57.2 percent (-28.7%), respectively. propertyfinder
Compared to Cairo, ADR fell further in Sharm El Sheikh (-17.3%) to EGP333.69 and Hurghada (-6.2%) to EGP329.15, as hoteliers sought to sustain demand volume by lowering prices.
Demand in the Levant area fell by 12.2% in major cities like Beirut, Lebanon, and Amman, Jordan (-6.8 percent).
Despite the fact that the majority of the unrest has occurred in Syria and Egypt, it resulted in a 22.2 percent drop in RevPAR in Beirut and a 9.2 percent drop in Amman.
Following the country's political instability in February, Manama, Bahrain, saw the most significant drop in demand across the Arabian Peninsula. As a result, year-to-date occupancy and rate fell by 37.6% and 12.9 percent, respectively, to 41.6 percent occupancy and BHD77.44 ADR.
With restricted new supply, Kuwait saw a significant increase in occupancy (+10.7%) in 2011. Occupancy and ADR increased by 7.0 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, thanks to strong demand growth. Riyadh's ADR increased by 6.4 percent, while Dubai's increased by 3.4 percent.
New supply (+13.0 percent) and matching demand (+13.0 percent) in Doha, Qatar resulted in flat occupancy (60.6 percent) and just a small rise in ADR (+0.7 percent).
"In Northern Africa and Egypt, a sense of uncertainty has led leisure and business travelers to seek alternative destinations. As a result, demand for hotels in the Arabian Peninsula increased by 13.2% "STR Global managing director Elizabeth Randall commented. "Before expecting large numbers of visitors to return, the region's security will be crucial.
The good news in 2011 is that the average rate in Northern Africa, Egypt, and the Levant area remained unchanged from the previous year (-0.5 percent in USD), and declining occupancy began to stabilize in the second half of the year "..