COVID-19 webinar summary: 5 key points on Middle East & Africa hotel performance, 16 February

Knowing you might not have time to watch our full webinars, we are pleased to continue our series of COVID-19 webinar summaries. In this latest edition, we talk performance in the Middle East and Africa.

Occupancy falls back

The latest round of restrictions has undoubtably impacted hotel occupancy. While all regions are, generally, declining once again, the Middle East’s occupancy was the highest on a rolling 7-day average ending with 7 February (50.4%). Although early in the process, the general news is encouraging with vaccine distribution progressing in many countries around the globe. During the same time, Africa posted a 24.8% occupancy level.

Demand peak in the Middle East

From the week ending with 20 December 2020 through the week ending 17 January 2021, Middle East hotels have sold 1.5 million room nights on average. 

Middle East: market-level performance

Key markets in the Middle East have seen steady occupancy improvement. Coinciding with New Year’s celebrations, several markets posted occupancy levels higher than 60% for the week ending with 3 January. Dubai posted a 76% occupancy level, followed closely by Al Khobar & Dammam (72%), Dubai (62%) and Jeddah (62%).
 

Africa: market-level performance

All countries across Africa felt the impact of the restrictions through 2020. However, Seychelles and Lagos saw occupancy levels above 40%. 

Future development in Africa

Africa is still showing a considerable amount of pipeline projects, according to STR’s AM:PM platform. With 13,768 rooms in the active pipeline, Egypt has the highest number of rooms under contract in the region.

For further insights into COVID-19’s impact on global hotel performance, visit our content hub.