The Egyptian capital Cairo and Saudi Arabia's Al Khobar city are expected to become tourist hot spots over the next couple of months with forecasted growths of 15 per cent and 6 per cent respectively in revenue per available room (RevPAR), according to Colliers International’s MENA Hotel Forecast for March.

In Cairo, an increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR) is expected to be driven by occupancy, boosted by growth in corporate, Mice and the leisure segment.

As for Al Khobar, RevPAR growth is expected to be boosted by occupancy, which will be driven by corporate and long-term stays. Furthermore, the recent rally in oil prices is also speculated as a reason behind the growth momentum.

According to the report, Madinah in Saudi Arabia maintained its confident and steady performance due to the return of the Egyptian market and start of the Ramadan season. Also no growth in hotel supply like is expected to keep the demand in line with supply, keeping the RevPAR in line with last year.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah will also maintain its steady performance, as the annual movement of the government in the summer to Jeddah will result in an increase in government related business, driving the occupancy. However, low per diems and spending power will continue to negatively impact the ADR, resulting the RevPAR to be in line with last year.

On the other hand, Bahrain capital city Manama and Saudi Arabia's Riyadh continue to feel the negative impact of declines in travel demand following the return of the summer season and regression of Ramadan in the shoulder month in May.

Manama and Riyadh are expected to respectively witness 8 per cent and 5 per cent decline in RevPAR from May 2018 to July 2018.

Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada hotels will continue to see RevPAR grow, with the report forecasting a growth of 54 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. - TradeArabia News Service