Dubai: Hotel occupancy in Dubai declined 2.5 per cent to 78.1 per cent in May compared to the same period in 2013, according to global consultancy, STR Global’s preliminary data for the emirate.
Average daily rate (ADR) was up 4.3 per cent to Dh809.88, resulting in revenue per available room (RevPAR- a benchmark for performance) to grow by 1.7 per cent to Dh632.23. Growth in rates is expected to boost positive RevPAR performance throughout the year, according to Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global. The emirate is expected to record a three per cent RevPAR growth this year.
“Demand remained strong for Dubai. However, supply growth continued to pick up for the fifth month in a row, leading to a decline in occupancy performance for May,” Winkle said in a statement. Hotel supply was up 8.8 per cent.
There are 99,199 rooms under contract in the Middle East, according to STR Global. Existing room supply is expected to grow by 40 per cent. The UAE and Saudi Arabia account for 68 per cent of the existing hotel room supply in the region and 70 per cent of those in the pipeline.
Saudi Arabia has 35,587 rooms under contract, while the UAE has 34,226 under contract, marking a supply growth of 60 per cent and 32 per cent in Saudi Arabia and the UAE respectively.
The luxury and upper upscale hotels represent the most rooms under contract in the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the upscale and upper midscale segment lead with the most rooms under contract.