Bahrain hotel revenues drop 7% in March

Arabian Business staff writer, May 22nd, 2016

Hoteliers in Manama saw total revenues slump by nearly 7% in March despite reducing payroll levels and overheads, according to new data.

HotStats figures showed that total revenue per available room (TRevPAR) fell by 6.6% despite successfully reducing cost levels in both payroll (-3.5%) and overheads (-5.3%), Arabian Business reported.

As a result, profit per room at hotels in the Bahrain capital fell by 6.9% year-on-year in March, to $77.70 from $83.50 during the same period in 2015.

Hotels in Manama have managed to recover volume since Q4 2015, with occupancy increasing slightly (1.2%) on a rolling 12-month basis, to 54.8%.

However, this has been at the expense of achieved average room rate, which has plummeted in the last six months, with the greatest margin of year-on-year decline recorded in October (-14.6 percent), February (-13.5 percent) and March (-9.7 percent).

In line with the GDP of Bahrain slowing to an estimated 3.2% in 2015 from 4.5% in 2014, profit per room has been on a downward trajectory since mid-2015 and was recorded at $55.30 in the 12 months to March, a 15% decline from $65.06 in the 12 months to April 2015.

The figures comes as Bahrain launches a new tourism identity under the slogan of 'Ours. Yours' as part of plans to further diversify the national economy away from its dependence on oil.

The new identity was unveiled by the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority to the regional market at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

The kingdom plans to revamp its access points for foreign visitors including a modernisation program for the Bahrain International Airport which result in increasing its capacity to 14 million visitors annually as well as upgrading port facilities for yachts.

Bahrain's tourism sector contributed around $700 million - around 3.6% of GDP - in 2015, and is expected to increase to $1 billion by 2020.

The industry currently provides more than 31,500 jobs, accounting for 4% of the total workforce in Bahrain while total investment in the travel and tourism sector last year amounted to $280 million.