Riyadh is set for a hotel sector boom and will grow nearly 80 percent if all rooms in its construction pipeline open, STR Global said in its February Construction Pipeline Report. The Saudi capital will see its hotel rooms offering expand by 79.4 percent if all 5,645 rooms in its active pipeline come to fruition, it said. Overall, the Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline comprises 498 hotels totaling 134,893 rooms, the report said. The Middle East/Africa region reported mostly positive performance results in February 2012 when reported in US dollars, the report further said. In February 2012, the region's occupancy jumped 13.3 percent to 62.6 percent, its average daily rate decreased 6.8 percent to $172.01 and its revenue per available room was up 5.6 percent increase to $107.74. "One year on from the Arab Spring, we are seeing positive RevPAR growth on lower base values for Northern Africa, as can be seen in Cairo, which reported 96 percent RevPAR recovery to EGP266", said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. "We saw occupancy pick up in markets which saw various levels of political protest last year, such as Amman, Beirut and Cairo, while performance continued to be impacted in Manama". STR Global said five other markets in the region are expected to grow more than 25 percent if all rooms in their active pipelines open. Four markets experienced RevPAR increases of more than 20 percent: Cairo (+91.4 percent to $44.01); Beirut (+71.0 percent to $112.96); Amman (+45.7 percent to $112.39); and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (+22.9 percent to $164.32). Manama fell 31.6 percent in RevPAR to $92.11, reporting the largest decrease in that metric, followed by Abu Dhabi with a 29.9-percent decrease to $114.72. Saudi Arabia was the best performing market for hotel tourism growth last year, while Arab Spring violence saw occupancy levels and room rate levels plummet in Bahrain, Lebanon and Egypt. Abu Dhabi's hotel sector is seen growing 64 percent with 11,133 rooms; Jeddah will grow 60.7 percent with 3,587 rooms while Muscat is set to expand by 49.4 percent with 2,104 rooms. The report also said Dubai's hotel market was forecast to grow by 45.3 percent with 26,643 rooms and Amman, Jordan by 27.4 percent with 1,797 rooms). Cairo jumped 178.4 percent in occupancy to 40.7 percent, achieving the largest increase in that metric, followed by Beirut (+58.9 percent to 58.2 percent), and Amman, Jordan (+49.1 percent to 79.1 percent). Manama fell 24.3 percent in occupancy to 44.8 percent, posting the largest decrease in that metric, followed by Abu Dhabi with a 12.2-percent decrease to 64.4 percent. Beirut rose 7.7 percent in ADR to $193.96, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by Dubai, UAE, with a 5.0-percent increase to $252.98. Cairo (-31.3 percent to $108.25) and Abu Dhabi (-20.1 percent to $178.20), posted the largest ADR decreases for the month.
