Lebanon Businessnews News
 

Hotel occupancy down
Better performance
expected during Eid
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The Ernst & Young ‘Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey Report,’ assessing hotel activity during the first half of 2014, said that occupancy dropped by nine percent compared to 2013. Average room rates were down by 6.4 percent, while room yields dropped by nearly 20 percent.

June had positive and encouraging results. Occupancy increased by 12 percent when compared to June 2013. This growth was resulted in a jump in RevPAR from $101 in June 2013 to $120 in June 2014. This boost in Beirut’s hospitality market was mainly attributed to the Arab States lifting the ban on Lebanon in May 2014.

Georges Karam, Director of Sales and Marketing at Hilton Hotels, said that performance during June was very good. “The whole sector benefited from a remarkable increase and good performance despite the incidents that happened by the end of June.”

According to Karam, market players were expecting a summer performance that will recover the declining activity witnessed since 2012. The sector is still relying on the holidays to recuperate the losses. Karam said that the local market is volatile, and reservations happen usually in the last minute. “We are hoping that activity during the Fitr Holidays will be positive.”

Reported by Rana Freifer
Date Posted: Jul 22, 2014
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