Hotels in the Middle East are enjoying some of the strongest room rates and occupancies in the world, according to Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of UK hospitality industry tracker STR Global. Winkle said Dubai and Jeddah had the highest room rates in the region in the year ending March 2014.
Dubai also had the highest occupancy in the region in the first quarter of this year, at 88 per cent. “Any market operating at an occupancy rate of more than 62 per cent is deemed to be operating very effectively,” said Winkle.
There are currently 10,000 hotel rooms under construction in the emirate, and a total of 35,000 new rooms in the pipeline in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“If every planned hotel came online, there would be a 40 per cent rise in the number of hotel rooms in the Middle East,” Winkle added.
More than 18,000 new rooms came online in the region in the year ending March 2014.
Meed
7 May
