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"The Middle East had a good year achieving its third highest RevPAR (revenue per available room) of $131.48 within the last eight years", said Elizabeth Randall Winkle, managing director of STR Global. "The region remained popular with developers and guests growing 6.3% in room inventory and 10.2% in demand."
Among the highlights from the region's key markets was the occupancy rate for hotels in Cairo, which rose to 45.6% in 2012, an increase of 24.5% compared to 2011. Hotels in Amman, Jordan recorded the second highest increases in occupancy (up 15.1% to 65%), followed by Muscat, Oman (up 14.3%t to 59.6%).
In terms of RevPAR, four markets in the region achieved double-digit growth: Amman (+20.9% to $99.39); Jeddah (+19.7% to $176.60); Cairo (+13.7% to $47.35); and Dubai (+11.4% to $181.45).
By contrast, hotels in Beirut, Lebanon, suffered the only double-digit ADR decrease, falling 10.2% to $186.62. Beirut also fell 17.3% in RevPAR to $94.55, reporting the largest decrease in that metric.
Country-wide, hotels in Egypt enjoyed a 17.5% rise in occupancy and an 11.1% increase in RevPAR, STR Global reported. Last week, Egypt's tourism minister Hisham Zaazou told Reuters that hotels in the country also enjoyed a 13% jump in tourism income over the year, which he said 'was better than anyone expected despite the problems we had'. But he added that the 2012 figures meant there were 22% fewer visitors than in 2010 and they generated 25% less revenue.
Elsewhere in the region, hotels in the UAE saw occupancy rates rise two percent to 72.5% while ADR rose 4.3% and RevPAR increased 6.4%. In Saudi Arabia, hotel occupancy rates rose to 62.1%, up 7.3% on 2011, while ADR rose 3.5% and RevPAR grew by 11.1%.
Region adds 68 new hotels
Other data recently issued by STR Global shows that a total of 68 new hotels with 15,735 rooms were opened in the Middle East and Africa in 2012. Once again the vast majority of new builds in the region were in the high-end category.
The Upper Upscale segment added the most new rooms in 2012 with 3,600 rooms in 10 properties, followed by the Luxury segment (11 hotels with 3,508 rooms) and the Upscale segment (16 hotels with 3,467 rooms).
The Midscale segment reported the largest increase of new rooms added in 2012 compared with new rooms added in 2011, rising 79.5% with 10 hotels and 1,431 rooms. Meanwhile, the Economy segment reported the smallest number of new rooms in 2012 with 242 rooms in two properties.
Staff
