INTERNATIONAL REPORT—Hotel profit plummeted in the Middle East and North Africa in January, as oversupply and struggling oil prices took a toll, sending GOPPAR to a 13.9% year-on-year decrease, according to the latest data tracking full-service hotels from HotStats. The decrease is part of a continued story for the region, which saw GOPPAR decline 6% YOY in 2018; it marked the fifth consecutive month of YOY decline in this measure at hotels in the region. The drop in profit was led by a 7.5% YOY decrease in RevPAR and a 2.9% drop in non-rooms revenues, which fell to $81.27, equivalent to 41% of total revenue. As a result of the revenue movement across all departments, TRevPAR fell by 5.7% to $198.23. Declining total revenue was exacerbated by rising costs, including a 1.7-percentage-point increase in payroll levels as a percentage of total revenue to 27.3%, as well as a 1.8-percentage-point increase in overheads as a percentage of total revenue to 25.2%.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 12, 2019 14:37 UTC