Media ININ Economy We Trust
The hotel sector in Dubai and Abu Dhabi achieved a strong increase in occupancy rates during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, and is expected to exceed 80% levels, according to STR data that specializes in hotel data.
According to STR, major markets in the Middle East showed a sharp rise in hotel occupancy rates during Eid Al Fitr.
“While leisure travel in the Middle East is usually slower during Ramadan, it is set to resume during Eid,” said Kostas Nikolaidis, STR Managing Director Middle East and Africa.
He added, “Many countries offer paid holidays for three to five days after Ramadan, which is where we see a rise in occupancy rates.”
And she indicated that, according to reservations data from April 10, it shows that occupancy rates reached their peak on Saturday, April 22, at levels of 59.7% in Abu Dhabi and 60.3% in Dubai, and with the approach of Eid, it is expected that occupancy rates will reach 80% in the two cities, while the average Occupancy of hotels in Qatar reached its highest level on Sunday, April 23 (by 42.3%).
“Qatar naturally operates at a lower occupancy rate compared to Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” Nikolaidis added.
He continued, “The extended Eid holiday period in the market this year may lead to a decrease in peak occupancy, as demand can be spread over more days. Overall, we expect Eid to signal a return to the strong performance seen across the region recently, with Qatar expected to reach 70% and Abu Dhabi and Dubai expecting to achieve occupancy above 80% over the holiday period.”
Nikolaidis explained: “During Eid last year, the occupancy rate in Dubai increased to 88.8%, respectively, while Abu Dhabi witnessed the highest occupancy level on May 3 (85.4%).” Dubai hotels recorded record daily occupancy rates during Ramadan this year. During this period of the year, supported by demand from international markets such as Britain, to exceed the levels of the Holy Month in both 2019 and 2022, according to previous data. Easter holidays for major markets such as the United Kingdom helped push occupancy in Ramadan 2023 to its peak. Dubai hotel occupancy in Ramadan 2023 was higher than Ramadan last year and much higher than Ramadan levels for 2019.
