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 increase in the average occupancy rate in Beirut’s hospitality sector to 42.2% during the month of December 2022. The average room rate dropped by 24.6% y-o-y to $54.0 and the revenue per available room (RevPAR) decreased by 21.1% to $23.0.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the December 2021 – December 2022 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the second lowest average occupancy rate (48.7%) among the nine covered Middle Eastern capitals during the year 2022. Abu Dhabi outperformed its regional peers, enjoying the highest average occupancy rate of 75.6%, followed closely by Cairo City (71.1%) and Riyadh (62.9%). Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the lowest average room rate of $46 when priced at the fresh Dollar rate to reflect the sizeable devaluation of the Lebanese Pound against the US Dollar. Kuwait City, on the other hand, recorded the highest average room rate of $224, followed by Riyadh ($180) and Doha ($166), only to name a few.