Cairo bounces back after Luxor tragedy
Cairo's hotels staged a dramatic recovery in 1999, after visitor numbers plummeted in the wake of the terrorist massacre of tourists in Luxor in late 1997.
According to the new City Survey 2000, the first in which consultant Pannell Kerr Forster has combined its European and Middle East/Africa surveys, the Egyptian city enjoyed a 14.3-point rise in occupancy levels to 77.5%, the highest figure outside Europe.
But external factors such as political instability, the death of a ruler, or the legacy of low oil prices affected the performance of many cities surveyed in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Others, such as Amman and Dubai, faced a threat from the sheer volume of new hotels.
Occupancy and average room rates were depressed in both Pakistan and India following the imposition of economic sanctions after the countries' nuclear tests and tensions over Kashmir.
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in India endured a second year of double-digit declines in room yields, while Pakistan's capital Karachi reported the lowest rooms yield and the lowest average room rate (at $49 or £32) in the entire survey.
In Europe, London regained the top occupancy slot from Amsterdam and was the only city to break the 80% barrier, although 15 European cities in all achieved occupancy levels of 70% and above.
Paris, followed by London, topped the European tables in terms of rooms yield, while Barcelona achieved the largest increase in room rate (25%), which boosted the city from 19th to 9th position.
However, the highest average room rate (£149) was achieved by Paris, which PKF said was still benefiting from having hosted the football World Cup in 1998.
Lisbon, however, failed to capitalise on having hosted Expo 98. While still higher than before Expo, its occupancy levels and average room rates fell to 64.9% and £49, plunging it to the bottom of the European table.
by Angela Frewin
