Dubai’s Hotel Occupancy Rates Fall In October

Dubai’s hospitality market saw a marginal fall in the occupancy rates during the month of October 2014 despite the Eid Al Adha holidays and major events during the month.

According to EY’s Middle East Hotel benchmark survey, average occupancy in Dubai’s hotels fell by 0.3 per cent in October compared to the same period last year. The survey noted that the fall in occupancy rates was not due to a decline in visitors but because of the extra supply of hotel rooms in the market.

The emirate also witnessed a slight decline in average daily rates from $324 in October 2013 to $320 in October this year. This further resulted in a 1.7 per cent decline in revenue per available room (RevPar) in October this year.

Dubai had about 84,534 (611 establishments) hotel rooms and apartments at the end of 2013, up five per cent from 2012. This figure rose to reach 88,680 rooms during the first half of 2014, according to Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

In the current development pipeline for 2014 to 2016, an additional 141 hotel establishments including 99 hotels are expected to be added to the market, bringing the total to 751 hotel establishments and just under 114,000 rooms.

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the hospitality markets of the cities of Cairo, Doha and Beirut have seen a positive increase in October this year while markets in Makkah and Amman saw a considerable drop compared to the same period last year.

Despite a slow down registered in some MENA markets, EY said that the region’s hospitality market is set for further growth as it recovers from the slow summer months.

“The hospitality market in the MENA region continued to recover in October, as we entered the peak season of the industry,” said Yousef Wahbah, MENA head of transaction real estate at EY.

“With the winter months attracting more tourists and the seasonal increase in events and conferences, we can predict further increases in overall occupancy rates across the region. We expect this growth to continue into the beginning months of 2015.”