Hotel occupancy in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada continues to grow in light of the positive movement witnessed in the tourism sector during the last period. The two Red Sea resort cities are expected to witness 17% and 12% growth in revenues per available rooms (RevPAR) respectively, Colliers International said in its latest MENA Hotels Forecast report for the period from December 2018 to February 2019. The report explained that the revenues rebound comes as a result of the improved security situation. Colliers expects that the Red Sea resorts will continue to benefit from the positive security perception, and the return of chartered flights. In Sharm El-Sheikh, "similar to Hurghada, travel sentiment from the most source markets is now relatively relaxed resulting in a surge in international leisure demand," the report noted. Colliers stated that Saudi Arabia's Jeddah and Egypt's Cairo maintained their steady performance, explaining that the Saudi capital is expected to witness a slight decrease of 4% in RevPAR during the period from December 2018 till February 2019. "Despite a slight decline in performance in Jeddah owing to a leaner quarter four, the long-term outlook remains positive," the report continued. Meanwhile, "Cairo is expected to witness 5% increase in demand due to the corporate meetings, incentives, conferences, and events (MICE) and some leisure activity, in addition to the strong destination marketing and political stability," according to the report. On the other hand, the report said that Oman's Muscat and Kuwait City continue to feel the negative consequences of the decline in leisure demands and limited corporate and MICE demand. Colliers explained that Muscat and Kuwait City are expected to witness 2% and 1% decline in RevPAR, respectively from December 2018 to February 2019. Colliers International Hotels division is a global network of specialist consultants in hotel, resort, marina, golf, leisure, and spa sectors, dedicated to providing strategic advisory services to owners, developers and government institutions to extract best values from projects and assets.
