Ramadan impacted hotel performance across the Middle East in July with holy cities in Saudi Arabia seeing major increases in revenues, latest industry figures show.


STR Global said hotels in Makkah reported the biggest boost to performance with revenue per available room (RevPAR) increases of more than 90 percent compared to July 2011.


“Ramadan, which took place 20 July to 19 August, impacted the results across the Middle East”, said Elizabeth Randall Winkle, managing director of STR Global.

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“Ramadan took place during August last year. The holy cities of Makkah and Madinah reported RevPAR increases of 90.9 percent and 33 percent, respectively."


Saudi city Jeddah also witnessed the largest rise in average daily rates (ADR) with a 7.9 percent increase to $228.98.


Jeddah was also the only key market in the Middle East and Africa region to report a RevPAR increase, rising 12.7 percent to $191.53.


Overall, the Middle East/Africa region reported mostly negative performance results in July.


The region’s occupancy decreased 4.9 percent to 56.7 percent during the month, its average daily rate increased 2.1 percent to $140.67 and its revenue per available room fell three percent to $79.72.


Beirut ended the month with the largest decreases in all three key performance metrics.


Its occupancy fell 19.3 percent to 53.9 percent, its ADR was down 25.2 percent to $195.78 and its RevPAR decreased 39.6 percent to $105.48.


Overall, hotels in Saudi Arabia saw occupancy rates slip 1.6 percent to 64.6 percent in July while RevPAR rose 31 percent and ADR rose 33 percent.


STR Global data also showed that hotels in the UAE witness a near-15 percent drop in occupancy to 60.5 percent in July, while RevPAR fell by 12.7 percent but ADR rose by 2.4 percent.