Africa's hotels saw success across three performance metrics in January 2018 while hotels in the Middle East showed mixed performance results.
STR data reported that Africa's occupancy rates rose 5.7 percent to 53.4 percent in January while ADR grew 2.6 percent to $126.55. RevPAR rose 8.4 percent to $67.54 in response.
Hotels in Morocco recorded the first RevPAR boost for a January since 2014 due to the rise in visitor numbers during the FIA Formula E Championship race in Marrakech and the Marrakech Marathon. The country's hotels saw occupancy grow 16.3 percent to 54.1 percent while ADR increased 28.5 percent to MAD129.16. RevPAR also jumped 49.5 percent to MAD69.90 last month.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian hotel market reported growth in occupancy despite the country's security concerns. Occupancy increased 8.6 percent to 41.4 percent, but couldn't prevent ADR from dropping 11.2 percent to NGN136.09 and RevPAR from falling 3.6 percent to NGN56.38.
Occupancy rates in the Middle East also jumped 1.9 percent YOY to 69.1 percent, but couldn't keep ADR from dropping 3.4 percent to $170.28. RevPAR decreased 1.6 percent to $117.75 in response.
Saudi Arabia’s hotels reported a 6.4-percent boost in occupancy to 59.5 percent and 0.9 percent rise in RevPAR to SAR336.70 last month. However, ADR dropped 5.2 percent to SAR566.34 due to the 9.3-percent increase in supply growth. A major portion of Saudi Arabia’s current inventory is the country’s development pipeline totaling 76 percent of the existing room supply. The new additions to the market are part of a long-term investment in tourism and hospitality for Saudi Vision 2030. “The January school holiday, which fell primarily in February last year, pushed a 16.4 percent rise in demand. Both occupancy and ADR levels continue to be pressured by supply growth, which rose to 9.3 percent for the month,” STR said in a statement.