The Middle East and Africa region’s hospitality sector reported a 1.2 per cent increase in occupancy to 62.8 per cent in January. The revenue per available room (RevPAR) also increased by 1.0 per cent to $115.61.

The average daily rate (ADR) decreased by 0.2 per cent to $184.08.

When looking at the region’s three sub-regions, Northern Africa saw double-digit growth in RevPAR and occupancy, increasing by 24.2 per cent and 14.8 per cent, respectively, said a recent report from STR Global – a global hotel data provider.

UAE emirate Dubai posted declines in all three performance metrics. The drops were in large part because of the exceptionally strong comparable to January 2014, which was the strongest January performance during the last 10 years, said Elizabeth Winkle, STR Global’s managing director.

“Despite continuous strong supply growth for Dubai, up 6.8 per cent, occupancy levels managed to stay above 85 per cent for January 2015; however, that was three points lower than January 2014”, Winkle said.

“Demand continued to grow in Dubai (up 3.7 per cent), and with the exception of the months of Ramadan, demand growth for the emirate has been positive in every month for the past five years.”

“However, the increasing competition continues to put pressure on rate, and there are downside risks that this will continue throughout 2015”, she added.

Despite the declines in occupancy (down 2.5 per cent), ADR (down 4 per cent) and RevPAR (down 6.4 per cent), Dubai still achieved one of the highest RevPAR actuals (valued at $242.85) in the Middle East, Winkle said.

South Africa experienced balanced supply growth (up 2.2 per cent) and demand growth (up 2.3 per cent), but the sub-region of Southern Africa suffered setbacks in occupancy (down 5 per cent), ADR (down 5.4 per cent) and RevPAR (down 10.1 per cent).

“Many countries in the Southern Africa sub-region saw drops from an occupancy perspective but have managed to hold onto rate in the first month of 2015”, Winkle said. “Zimbabwe had an occupancy decline of 6.7 per cent, however, it achieved an ADR increase of 4.3 per cent”.

Highlights among the Middle East/Africa region’s other key markets for January 2015 include (year-over-year comparisons, all currency in U.S. dollars):

• Three key markets reported double-digit occupancy increases: Cairo, Egypt (up 65.5 per cent to 54.8 per cent); Beirut, Lebanon (up 34.9 per cent to 47.1 per cent); and Doha, Qatar (up 11.8 per cent to 83.2 per cent).
• Amman, Jordan, reported the largest occupancy decrease, falling 20.8 per cent to 42.5 per cent.
• Doha had the highest increase in ADR (up 11.4 per cent to $207.25). Beirut followed with a 9.6-per cent increase in ADR to $166.57.
• Lagos, Nigeria experienced the largest ADR decline (down 11.6 per cent to $215.02) among the key markets.
• Three key markets reported double-digit RevPAR increases: Cairo (up 73.0 per cent to $56.84); Beirut (up 47.8 per cent to $78.51); and Doha (up 24.5 per cent to $172.34).                          
• Three key markets had double-digit RevPAR decreases: Amman (down 21.1 per cent to $69.35); Lagos (down 14.7 per cent to $109.23); and Nairobi, Kenya (down 12.9 per cent to $59.03). – TradeArabia News Service