MENA hotel investors expect quick recovery in occupancy after COVID-19: Colliers

Most hotel investors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remain hopeful for a relatively quick recovery period following the COVID-19 outbreak, with 46% of respondents expecting it to begin in Q4 2020, Colliers International noted in its latest report ‘MENA Hotel Market Sentiment, April 2020’.

Majority of respondents expect the hotel market to take between 6 and 12 months to return to 2019 occupancy levels, while most of the hotel owners and investors maintain a positive outlook on the future of the hospitality industry.

Overall, 52% of the respondents expect to see development opportunities in the medium term, 39% would focus on refurbishment and property upgrades, 26% on acquisitions and 22% on restructuring.

Only 7% of the respondents stated that they do not see any opportunities in the medium term.

The survey revealed that 39% of investors believe that the hotel occupancy for 2020 will be between 21 and 40%, while 33% expect the occupancy to be in the range of 41-60% in their respective markets.

The report surveyed hotel investors in the MENA to get their perspective on the current situation, how they have responded to the pandemic and their thoughts on the market moving forward.

The respondents hold a range of hotel investments from city hotels, beach/desert resorts to serviced apartments, with the majority of investments owned by respondents are in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

Majority of owners with hotels under construction will not stop development plans during the COVID-19 outbreak.