Occupancy levels at hotels in the Middle East & North Africa surged to 78.2 percent in April, but it was not enough to prevent profit levels falling for an eighth consecutive month, according to the latest data tracking full-service hotels. Profit per room at hotels in MENA fell by 2.9 percent in the month to $92.95. The profit performance of MENA hotels was further impacted by escalating payroll costs, which increased by 1.6 percent YOY to $57.98, on a per-available-room basis. Hotels in Abu Dhabi narrowly missed out on a fourth consecutive month of YOY profit growth this month, as GOPPAR fell by 0.3 percent to $73.38. The only slight disappointment from the strong showing by Manama hotels this month was the 4.9-percent YOY increase in payroll to $45.42 on a per-available-room basis.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 31, 2019 15:11 UTC