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Saturday, April 20, 2024 6:36 GMT
Showing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, hotels in the Middle East and Africa reported unprecedented performance lows during the month of April, according to data from STR - a leading market research firm.Occupancy levels in the Middle East dropped 58% to 31.2%, and average daily rate (ADR) declined 35.1% to US$95.54, forcing revenue per available room (RevPAR) to drop 72.7% to US$29.82.In Saudi Arabia, occupancy rates were recorded at 31.8% in April, a 50.4% dip compared to the same period in 2019. However, ADR moved up 4.9% to SAR474.66 (US$126) while RevPAR slipped 47.9% to SAR151.11 (US$40).The absolute occupancy level in Saudi Arabia was the lowest for any April since 2003. Key markets in the country, Jeddah and Riyadh, recorded 53.9% and 39.9% occupancy declines, respectively. In Qatar, occupancy was down 33% to 48.8% but ADR climbed 4.6% to QAR410.36 (US$112.3). RevPAR dipped 29.9% to QAR200.45 (US$54.8). The absolute occupancy level was the lowest for any April in STR’s Qatar database. At the market-level, Doha Centre experienced a drop in occupancy of 32.4%.In Africa, occupancy rates declined 79.8% to 12.5% and ADR also dropped 31.1% to US$77.85, resulting in RevPAR dipping 86.1% to US$9.75. Both the Middle East and Africa saw their lowest absolute occupancy and RevPAR levels for any month on record.