Hotels in Saudi Arabia saw a jump of 17.5 percent in Revenue per available (RevPar) to SR572 ($152) and occupancy improved 3.1 percent to 62.7 percent in November, the latest report by hospitality firm STR Global shows. Hotels in Egypt, the most popular Arab tourism destination, saw a RevPar increase of 1.6 percent to 389.9 Egyptian pounds ($72), but occupancy was down 4.3 percent to 80.5 percent, the report said. However, hotels in the Gulf business and leisure hub Dubai have been among the worst hit as the completion of new hotels has increased competition for visitors amid a travel decline. UAE hotels led the regional decline in revenue and occupancy in November as the country continued to suffer from a travel downturn. RevPar, a key measure of hotel performance, for the UAE was down 28.3 percent to AED766 ($208) last month compared with the year-ago period, while room occupancy declined 8.8 percent to 75.5 percent. STR said the overall Middle East RevPAR dropped by 16.9 percent.
