Ernst & Young (EY) published its “Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey Report” on the performance of 4 and 5 star hotels in the Middle East region, conveying a 45.6 percentage-point annual drop in the average occupancy rate in Beirut’s hospitality sector to 24.2% during the month of December 2019. This comes on the back of the strained local political and economic conditions. Similarly, the average room rate fell by 25.3% y-o-y to $157, with the average room yield plunging by 74.1% to $38.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the December 2018 – December 2019 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the 7^th highest average occupancy rate (61.7%) among the ten covered Middle Eastern capitals during the year 2019, with Abu Dhabi outperforming its regional peers, recording the highest average occupancy rate of 79.3%, followed by Cairo (75.6%) and Doha (69.9%). Paradoxically, Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the highest average room rate of $201, right ahead of their likes in Riyadh ($162) and Manama ($161), only to name a few.