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 1.9 percentage-point annual decrease in the average occupancy rate in Beirut’s hospitality sector to 35.3% during the month of October 2021. The average room rate dropped by 62.0% y-o-y to $68 in October, with the revenue per available room (RevPAR) concurrently plunging by 64.0% to $24. The aforementioned drops can be explained by the fact that the October 2020 figures for Lebanon were based on local Dollar pricing while the more recent October 2021 figures have been converted to fresh US Dollar rates.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the October 2020 – October 2021 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the fifth lowest average occupancy rate (43.7%) among the nine covered Middle Eastern capitals during the first ten months of 2021 in part owing to the lockdown between the first and second month of the year. Abu Dhabi outperformed its regional peers, enjoying the highest average occupancy rate of 75.7%, followed by Doha (74.0%) and Riyadh (55.3%). Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the lowest average room rate of $48, noting that Kuwait City recorded the highest average room rate of $228, followed by Amman ($135) and Riyadh ($133), only to name a few.