Cairo enjoys uptrend in hotel occupancy

news: review: Cairo enjoys uptrend in hotel occupancy

Cairo enjoys uptrend in hotel occupancy

Visitor confidence in the Egyptian travel market has started to gain ground more than a year after a political uprising crippled one of the country’s largest income-generating industries, according to the latest report from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

 In the capital Cairo, hotel occupancy rates have started to recover to 53 percent in August 2012 against 44 percent in the same period last year with visitor arrivals increasing by more than 14 percent to over 1.04 million.

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism is confident that its target of 12 million visitors by the end of 2012 will be achieved. Recent efforts to attract leisure and incentive travellers to the country include the reintroduction of Nile cruises from Cairo to Luxor, an International Women’s Tennis Tournament in Sharm El Sheikh and a new Pharaohs International Cross Country Rally that starts from the Great Pyramid of Giza to the western desert community in Abu Minqar.

 

 JLL researchers, led by Ayman Sami, were quick to point out that while optimism is returning in the Cairo hotel market, performance remains well below the levels seen in 2010 prior to the Arab Spring revolution. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the third quarter of 2012 stood at EGP159 (US$26), rising slightly from EGP140 (US$23) recorded in Q3 2011.

Once a bustling destination, Egypt suffered a major setback following the uprising in 2011 and some traces of uncertainty remain today.

Hotel room numbers have remained unchanged since 2011 at 27,000 rooms in 159 properties across the country and no new supplies are expected to enter the market any time soon.

The Egyptian Hotel Association said there are 29 new hotels offering 7,995 rooms that are currently under construction in Cairo, but completion dates for these properties are still unknown.