The Middle East was the only region globally to see declines in hotel occupancy and average daily rates (ADR) during the first half of the year.

Latest data from industry experts STR Global showed the region's hotels still achieved the highest ADR at $201.

The Middle East also achieved the highest figure for revenue per available room (revPAR) in the world in the first half of the year at $125.

“The first six months of 2010 saw a mixed performance across Middle East/Africa”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global.

“Africa’s improving results boosted the region’s overall performance, ending year-to-date with a 2.6-percent RevPAR increase.

“The Middle East was the only sub region globally that still saw both occupancy and ADR declines for the first half. Nonetheless, Middle Eastern hotels still achieved the highest ADR (US$201) and RevPAR (US$125) of all the global sub regions”, Randall added.

“As the addition of new supply entering the Middle East hasn’t majorly slowed down over the past 18 months, showing a 10 percent increase year-to-date, the increasing demand (+8 percent YTD) had a harder time flittering through into growing occupancy and ADR growth”.

South African hotels enjoyed large increases in all three performance metrics in June, STR Global said, adding that Beirut, Lebanon, was the only other key market to report an occupancy increase - up 22.6 percent to 69.3 percent.

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