Hotels in Dubai witnessed slow growth across key performance indicators in March, registering a slight drop in revenues and occupancy rates for the month, said a report.

Occupancy stood at 85.7 per cent in March, slipping 0.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2017 with revenue per available room (RevPAR) dipping 0.1 per cent to Dh644.97 ($175.5). Average daily rate (ADR) moved up 0.5 per cent to Dh752.49 ($204.8) for the month, said a preliminary report released by STR, a hotel data benchmarking company.

The increase in ADR would be the first for the market since April 2017 and only the second overall since July 2014. STR analysts note the rise in ADR could be due to the shift in Saudi school holidays, which occurred between March 10 and 20.

Overall performance remains consistent as demand (up 4.7 per cent) grows, but not as fast as supply (up 5.4 per cent). - TradeArabia News Service