May 10 – The predictions for the hotel industry in the Middle East are said to be pretty good, said Bradley Holliday, Senior Manager for the Tourism Hospitality and Leisure Industry Group at Deloitte Middle East. Speaking at the Arabian Travel Market last week, he said that “the forecast for the coming year is good,” he added. “Airline arrivals in the region are showing positive growth of around 15 per cent, tourist arrivals are showing growth of between five and nine per cent, GDP in the region is forecast to grow by 4.5 per cent… and the signs for 2010 are excellent.”
Putting all this into context, Holliday said from 2007, the Middle Eastern market started showing a decrease in growth, but not nearly as much as across the rest of the world. “The region still showed a 1.3 per cent growth in GDP after exceptional growth the previous year; but occupancy fell from around 68 per cent to 61 per cent during 2009 – a reflection of a fall in GDP levels around the world in the region’s feeder markets. “Air transport, however, is the one sector that bucked the trend,” Holliday said. “Revenue per passenger kilometre increased by 11.2 per cent, but hotels across the region, with a few exceptions, still saw a significant decrease, though not as bad as some of the trends seen across the rest of the world.”
Looking at specific key markets, Beirut showed the strongest growth in the region, with a 62 per cent growth in RevPAR, reflecting the improvement in security and stability, and the fact it is still a preferred destination among locals in the GCC region.
