STR: Preliminary May data for Abu Dhabi hotels

Abu Dhabi's hotel industry reported improved but still relatively low performance levels, according to preliminary May data from STR.

Compared with May 2019:

• Occupancy: +5.7% to 55.2%
• Average daily rate (ADR): -26.3% to AED251.40
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): -22.1% to AED138.88

The 55.2% occupancy level was up from April 2020 (47.3%) and represented the market's first year-over-year increase in the metric since November 2019. STR analysts note, however, that May was the market's lowest occupancy month in 2019, which created a low comparison base.

ADR and RevPAR were also up from April 2020, which was the month the market was most affected by restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic.

All of STR's COVID-19 analysis can be found here.