Golden Summer

| BIG ISSUE WHERE THEY'RE FLYING FROM A GOLDEN SUMMER, FOR SOME Europeans by far make up the biggest share of Middle East tourists, if data on Egypt is a good indicator of the entire region. Here's the breakdown of where visitors to Egypt call home. The civil war raging in Syria is hammering Lebanon's tourism industry, which makes up almost 40% of the economy, while a recent spate of kidnappings tied to the conflict kept away visitors from the Gulf. But beyond Lebanon, it's not all doom and gloom for restaurants, hotels and government tills that rely heavily on summer tourism to fill their coffers with gold. Here's a snapshot of the Mideast's winners and losers and evolving trends in the battle for the wallets of spendy holiday-makers = 100,000 CHECKING IN: HOTEL OCCUPANCY RATES IN THE REGION EDGE HIGHER Occupancy rates are up for most of the region's major cities in the second quarter from a year MANAMA CAIRO AMMAN SHARM EL SHEIKH BEIRUT WHERE THEY'RE FLOCKING TO ME TOP DESTINATION CITIES VISITORS (2012, 2011, M) TOTAL SPENDING (2012, BN) Dubai is easily the top destination in the Middle East, and its airport is almost three times as busy as the next one on the list. The figures below compare passenger traffic at the leading regional airports year- to-date versus 2011. At right, data from MasterCard show the region's hot spots. Beirut, which dropped out of the top rankings this year, still earns a lot of earlier, with Amman and Sharm El Sheikh seeing some of the biggest gains. Even Beirut, with 100% $8.8 $6.7 $3.5 $3 $2.6 $1.4 Dubai 8.8 7.9 Dubai 80% Cairo 3.3 3.7 Beirut an occupancy rate of around 64% in the second quarter, is up a bit. Abu Dhabi Tel Aviv 60% 2.7 Tel Aviv 40% 2.5 2.7 Cairo 20% Riyadh 1.9 N/A Abu Dhabi Amman 1.7 1.8 Amman cash from tourists. DOHA JEDDAH RIYADH ABU DHABI DUBAI DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% DOHA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Q2 Q2 4 יtt 2011 2012 BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LEBANON LAGS HOTEL OCCUPANCY AVERAGE ROOM RATES But a look at the month- to-month data show QUEEN ALIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 100% Lebanon is taking a hit $250 from the unrest and 80% kidnappings, while room rates have plunged from 60% $200 BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT past years. 40% 20% $150 = 1,000,000 July '11 Oct Jan '12 April July July '11 Oct Jan '12 April July 2011 2012 Sources: Economena Analytics, World Travel & Tourism Council, IMF, Ernst & Young, MasterCard, Central Bank of Egypt, airport statistics 10 BOLD | Oct 2012 BOLD | Oct 2012 11