A new report by STR Global shows that revenue per available room (RevPar), and occupancy rates fell dramatically during Ramadan. STR Global Managing Director said “With Ramadan taking place from August 21 to September 19 2009, the Middle East/Africa region dropped 21 per cent in RevPar for August.” Elizabeth Randall said this is the first time RevPar for this region has fallen behind Europe and the America, in terms of monthly declines.
Occupancy rate for the region fell 18.2 per cent to 59.2 per cent and RevPar dropped to $78.89. Occupancy rates fell the most in Oman and Muscat from 38.2 per cent to 35.4 per cent, followed by Riyadh at 31.5 percent then Saudi Arabia at 38.8 per cent. Randall said she expects the current declines in RevPar and occupancy rates in the Middle East region to be temporary, “because year-to-date the region still showed the least declines of all four regions.”
