Dubai is leading the growth in the region's hospitality industry, with the highest average price per key in Q1 2017 amongst the 21 cites in the Mena region at $446,000, an increase of $4,000 on Q4 2016.

Dubai's hotel performance is consistently among the best in the world alongside some the key global cities such as New York, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong and London.

Similarly to Q4 2016 results, three Saudi Arabian cities made the top five highest average prices per key within the study. Jeddah had the highest price per key ($306,000) amongst the Saudi cities, followed by the holy city of Makkah ($302,000) and the capital city of Riyadh ($272,000).

Ras Al Khaimah ($270,000) is the final city within the top five, and has established itself as one of the key growth areas for tourism in the Mena region, this despite the prevailing climate whereby most markets are experiencing a drop in performance.

In conclusion, based on a number of markets experiencing further price contraction over the past quarter, the overall level of the index fell by 2 per cent versus Q4 2016.- TradeArabia News Service