Bahrain hotels still in doldrums after unrest

Bahrain's hotel sector is still struggling to return to pre-unrest levels while other countries hit by uprising are showing signs of recovery, STR Global has said in a new report. Its latest data for February showed that hotels in Manama witnessed a continued slump in both occupancy and revenue per available room (RevPAR). Occupancy dropped more than 24 percent compared to February 2011 when the uprisings began in the Gulf kingdom. Occupancy currently stands at 44.8 percent. STR Global also said that RevPAR fell 31.6 percent in Manama hotels to just $92.11, making it the worst performer in the Middle East and Africa region. However Cairo, which was also badly hit by the impact of last year's revolution, saw significant signs of recovery in February, according to STR Global data. RevPAR rose 91.4 percent to $44.01 compared to the same month last year while occupancy levels were also up by 178.4 percent to 40.7 percent, achieving the largest increase in that metric. “One year on from the Arab Spring, we are seeing positive RevPAR growth on lower base values for Northern Africa, as can be seen in Cairo, which reported 96 percent RevPAR recovery to EGP266," said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “We saw occupancy pick up in markets which saw various levels of political protest last year, such as Amman, Beirut and Cairo, whilst performance continued to be impacted in Manama”. Overall, the Middle East/Africa region’s occupancy jumped 13.3 percent to 62.6 percent in February, its average daily rate decreased 6.8 percent to $172.01 and its RevPAR was up 5.6 percent increase to $107.74. While Manama posted the largest drop in occupancy, Abu Dhabi also fell by 12.2 percent to 64.4 percent. Abu Dhabi also posted a 20.1 percent drop in average daily rates (ADR) to $178.20. Abu Dhabi's RevPAR also fell significantly in February compared to the same month last year - down 29.9 percent to $114.72. Beirut's ADR rose 7.7 percent to $193.96, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by Dubai with a five percent increase to $252.98. Four markets experienced RevPAR increases of more than 20 percent including Jeddah which rose 22.9 percent to $164.32.