The Middle East and African (MEA) region's hotel occupancy rates jumped 3.2 per cent in March to 68.7 per cent, compared to the same period last year, said a report.

MEA also saw a 0.7 per cent rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to $118.04, while the average daily rate (ADR) decreased 2.3 per cent to $171.82, said a report by STR Global, a leading source of global hotel data.

When looking at the three Middle East/Africa sub-regions, Northern Africa posted the top increases in all three performance metrics.

The sub-region experienced a 15.1 per cent increase in occupancy rates to 52.2 per cent, with ADR rising to 8.9 per cent to $93.49 and RevPAR going up 25.3 per cent to $48.78.

Amongst the key countries in the region, Egypt experienced the highest increases in both ADR, going up 32.9 per cent to $86.64, and RevPAR which rose to 61.5 per cent to $45.28.

Lebanon saw the highest increase in occupancy, up 27 per cent to 48.5 per cent. The country’s demand has increased for 11 consecutive months after the GCC lifted travel advisories in May last year.  

Morocco reported the steepest declines in both RevPAR (down 23.4 per cent to $64.11) and ADR (down 23.6 per cent to $109.83).

Highlights among the MEA region’s key markets for March include (year-over-year comparisons):

• Cairo, Egypt, reported the largest increase in occupancy, up 38.2 per cent to 51.6 per cent. Beirut, Lebanon, followed with a 26.7 per cent increase to 49 per cent;
• Amman, Jordan, experienced the largest decrease in occupancy, down 18 per cent to 54.6 per cent;
• Doha, Qatar (up 11.4 per cent to $207.22) and Manama, Bahrain (up 9.6 per cent to $219.69) posted the largest increases in ADR;
• Muscat, Oman, saw the largest drop in ADR, down 9.2 per cent to $228.06;
• Two markets reported RevPAR increases of more than 30 per cent: Cairo, Egypt (up 41.2 per cent to $53.84) and Beirut (up 31.9 per cent to $72.98);
• Amman experienced the largest decrease in RevPAR, down 20.3 per cent to $88.20. – TradeArabia News Service