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The average room rate (ARR) for the month increased 7.5% to $347.25 and revenue per available room (RevPAR) went up 15.0% to $302.31. A 13.9% growth in total revenue per available room (TRevPAR) to $508.72 and a drop on overheads resulted in a 20.0% increase in gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) to $258.58, TRI noted.
Conversely, the key hotel performance indicators in Abu Dhabi continued to show a decline as occupancy dropped 5.6 percentage points to 75.5% and ARR fell 11.4% to $145.06 against the same period last year, dragging RevPAR down by 17.5% to $109.47. Although the capital saw an increase in leisure travellers during the month, hotels in the city continued to see rates drop across most market segments, leading to a 17.0% fall in TRevPAR to $231.55 and dragging the GOPPAR down by 26.7% to $94.08.
"Dubai hotels thrived as nearly half a million visitors flowed in to the city to celebrate Eid al Adha holidays. The administration's efforts to attract a million visitors to the city over the 10-day period was supported by the relaunch of the 'Eid in Dubai' shopping festival which saw malls open 24 hours to serve shoppers. The festivities were complemented by a number of major conferences and exhibitions hosted in the city such as the Gitex, World Energy Forum and CityScape, all of which attract large international audience.
However, the performance of Abu Dhabi hotels were discouraging as despite healthy occpancy levels, average rates have continued to drop indicating a need for hotels to strategize beyond rate reduction to capture and retain business," commented Rashid Aboobacker, senior consultant at TRI Hospitality Consulting in Dubai.
Cairo hotels enjoy rebound
In Egypt, hotels in Cairo maintained an upbeat performance in October despite the sporadic protests in Tahrir Square during the month. Occupancy rates in the Egyptian capital grew by 4.8 percentage points to 54.1% and ARR grew 2.1% to $119.29 during the month, causing a 12.2% growth in RevPAR to $64.59. TRevPAR increased 11.2% reaching $123.55 lifting GOPPAR up by 23.8% to $64.81.
Sharm el Sheikh saw the biggest growth in performance this October as occupancy in four and five hotels surged 16.3 percentage points to 79.4%, the highest in two years, while ARR increased 5.4% to $59.29, the highest since January last year. TRevPAR was up 30.3% at $81.58 compared to last year as both rooms and food and beverage revenues posted considerable growth on the back of a surge in regional and domestic visitors during the Eid holidays.
"A closer look at the data show that the recovery in Cairo hotel performance was primarily helped by a growth in leisure segments, pointing to a recovery in confidence among tourists, which is what Egypt needs at this point as a tourism destination. The surge in hotel occupancy in Sharm El Sheikh is also considered to be pointing towards this growth in confidence as a large number of domestic and regional travellers returned to the resort city this season to spend their holidays", said Aboobacker.
Staff
