By Reem Hosam El-din -albawaba.com – A forecast report conducted by Colliers International for the hotels of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the three-month period from April to June 2017 has showed that the UAE and Egyptian cities have experienced an increase in the number of reviews from Russian travellers who tend to view their stays in these cities positively. It has also showed that the key cities in terms of occupancy this summer are expected to be Beirut and Aqaba.

In Beirut, an increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR) is expected to take place and emanate from both average daily rate (ADR) and occupancy rates, according to Colliers International’s report. The report expects Beirut to witness a busy summer season with high demand from the Lebanese diaspora living abroad. As for the Red Sea resort in Jordan, the report showed that it continues to benefit from the domestic demand and the demand from visitors of Scandinavian countries.

Other MENA cities are steady in terms of hotel occupancies, such as Sharjah, where the hotel market in Sharjah is going through a recovery phase with modest growth in occupancies. “The upcoming Eid holidays and school vacations in the Gulf countries, followed by strong growth in the Chinese market, will keep the RevPAR in line with the rates of last year without declines,” the report said. The return of summer heat and Ramadan is expected to lower the demand in Ras Al Khaimah; however, the strong local demand over Eid and school holidays, along with international leisure demand from Germany, UK, Russia, and India will keep the three-month RevPAR growth in line with last year.

In Jeddah, both occupancy and ADR levels continue to decline due to a drop in demand by the corporate and leisure segments. “This is primarily due to the cuts in government and private sector’s spending, with little recovery expected in the medium term,” the report said. The market of Riyadh is also witnessing a downward trend in the performance of hotels. A combination of new supply and lower demand has resulted in a dip in RevPAR, which is expected to continue into the next three months, according to the forecast by Colliers International. Colliers International is a global company in commercial and real estate services with over 15,000 employees operating in 68 countries.