Colliers International Consulting said its latest forecast for the impact of Covid-19 indicates a faster recovery of the hotel market in the UAE in the coming period.
The company added in a report on hotel market forecasts in the Middle East and North Africa, that the UAE market will benefit from the ongoing preparations to host the Expo 2020 Dubai, which is scheduled to be postponed until the last quarter of 2021.
The forecasts showed a significant increase in the expected occupancy rates for the next year, compared to this year, and compared to other markets in the region.
At the level of the region as a whole, the company expected that the corona virus will continue to affect the hotel sector during the year 2020, with recovery starting next year, and the markets will reach their stable performance in the following year.
Colliers International indicated that the travel and tourism sector was the most affected by the spread of Covid-19, in light of the governments ’continued taking strict measures to confront the spread of the virus, and the hotel owners also taking the necessary measures to deal with the crisis caused by the complete cessation of the tourism and travel sector.
The company indicated that its team prepared this report, which sheds light on the expectations of the performance of the hotel sector in the Middle East and North Africa and the expected occupancy levels for 2020 and 2021, with the potential impact of the epidemic on the sector's performance in mind, pointing out that these expectations include 24 sub-markets of the hotel markets In the area.
Uncertainty
Colliers International reported that a state of uncertainty prevails in the market with regard to the expected performance of the hotel sector in the region, explaining that, based on the results of the survey, conducted by the team, expectations indicate that the market recovery phase may start and continue during the fourth quarter of this year During the year 2021. Colliers International indicated that the expected data were taken from the hotel’s database in addition to the data extracted from the international STR reports and local statistics centers, with the use of 2019 as a forecasting base.