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DUBAI / Emirates Business
The Middle East hospitality market witnessed a steady growth in occupancy during the first quarter of 2018, according to the latest EY Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey Report. Except for Jeddah, Beirut, hotel occupancy across the Mena region saw an increase when compared to the first quarter of 2017.
This increase was primarily due to a number of shopping festivals, improving bilateral relations, and overall pleasant climate conditions across
the region.
In the first quarter of 2018, Dubai achieved the highest occupancy, average room rate (ADR) and RevPAR across the Mena region. The city’s occupancy reached 86.9% with an ADR of $293, which led to an overall RevPAR of $255 in Q1.
In the United Arab Emirates, the hospitality market saw a slight increase in occupancy in Q1 2018 over Q1 2017. Occupancy in Dubai increased by 0.8% points from 86.1% in Q1 2017 to 86.9% in Q1 2018, possibly due to international visitors of the 23rd edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival as well the favourable weather. Even though there was a slight decline in ADR by 1.2% from $297 in Q1 2017 to $293 in Q1 2018, Dubai achieved the highest RevPAR in region at $255 in Q1 2018, the same as last year.
Driving overall hospitality KPIs for Dubai were the hotels located on beach, which saw an increase across occupancy, average room rate and RevPAR in Q1 2018.
The occupancy of beachfront hotels in Dubai reached 82.7% with an average room rate of $559, leading to a RevPAR of as much as $462.
The hospitality market in Abu Dhabi also registered an increase in occupancy by 7.3% points, up from 79.3% in Q1 2017 to 86.6% in Q1 2018.