Bahrain's hotel occupancy increases

Bahrain hotels reported an increase of 7 per cent in occupancy rates overall and by 4 per cent last November, said a report, adding that hotel room profitability has also gone up by nearly 21 per cent.

"The year-to-date (from January to November last year) room yield in Bahrain has increased to 20.7 per cent from 2011, while the average room rate witnessed a 0.4 per cent drop compared to the same period last year," an Ernst & Young Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey was quoted in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

"This change is due to several expositions taking place in the kingdom during November, including Jewellery Arabia, the Oil and Gas trade forum and key security talks which included regional heads of state."

The report was compiled by Ernst & Young's Dubai office with the help of its Transaction Real Estate Advisory Services Group across the Mena region.