The cumulative impact of the Arab Spring on Cairo’s hotel business is reflected in the latest HotStats survey by TRI Hospitality Consulting, which recorded the capital’s occupancy and ARR at 38.3% and US $121.02 respectively for the year 2011.
Total RevPAR and GOPPAR for the period were down by 39.8% and 56.1% compared to the respective figures in 2010, according to the HotStats MENA Chain Hotels Market Review December 2011.
Overall, Egypt saw the largest decline in hotel performance among the six cities surveyed by TRI in the region, both in terms of December monthly and 2011 full year figures.
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In December 2011, Cairo reported occupancy of 36.3% for the month, down by 37.1 percentage points from the previous year.
ARR levels held up despite the turmoil, dropping by 4.4% from the previous year to close the month at US $117.47.
Peter Goddard, managing director, TRI Hospitality Consulting in Dubai commented: “In Egypt, the inception of the democratically elected parliament and the reassurance from the military regime regarding the transfer of power have apparently softened the street protests in Cairo.
“However, a strong recovery in hotel demand is likely to be difficult as long as the risk of sporadic violence such as the latest episode in Port Said exist.”
Goddard said Sharm El Sheikh had “fared better in terms of occupancy” — recording 52% occupied rooms in December 2011. Average rates “remained subdued” at $53.79.
The city posted the lowest profit levels for the month amongst the six cities covered in the HotStats survey with a GOPPAR of US $19.51.
For the full year 2011, hotels in Sharm El Sheikh achieved an occupancy of 54.9% — 31.1 percentage points lower than the previous year — an ARR of $49.55 and GOPPAR of $17.84.
Consequently the city posted the largest full year decline in ARR (-19.3%), RevPAR (-48.5%), TRevPAR (-44.6%) and GOPPAR (-64.2%) amongst the six cities in 2011.
The HotStats MENA Chain Hotels sample is composed of 77 hotels with an average hotel size of 330 bedrooms. The six cities surveyed include: Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah.
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