Zabada N Abouelhana
Phoenix, AZ: A Decade of Investor Confidence Pays Off
ZABADA N. ABOUELHANA | September 22, 2023
By Zabada N. Abouelhana, McKenna Luke, Aleisha Smith Phoenix has come a long way in the last decade, developing a diverse and welcoming economy that has allowed the city and surrounding communities to outperform other top-25 markets. Area officials and industry partners have made a concerted effort to grow the metro in a meaningful and multi-faceted way beyond the somewhat stable demand drivers of the former decades that slowed the recovery from the Great Recession. Furthermore, operators and officials were able to capitalize on the Super Bowl held in 2015 to grow overall RevPAR to a pre-pandemic high in 2019. Demand during that period w...
Tucson’s Hotel Industry: Recovered and Evolving
Zabada N. Abouelhana | August 14, 2023
By Zabada N. Abouelhana Current State of the Pima County Hospitality Industry Factors contributing to Tucson’s strong and consistent demand levels during the majority of the last decade have included increased business activity, growth in the healthcare and education sectors, increased airlift to Tucson International Airport, and the continued popularity of the region as a tourist destination. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant decline in market performance, Pima County’s hotel demand levels fully recovered in 2022 and the year-to-date 2023 period. The local inventory of older, economy-oriented properties has been redu...
A Super, Super Bowl LVII in the Valley
Zabada Abouelhana | March 6, 2023
By Zabada N. Abouelhana On February 12, Super Bowl LVII was held in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium with nearly 68,000 spectators. Attendance levels were just below the average for the last eight Super Bowls (excluding the COVID-19-affected year of 2021) and below the 2015 game’s 70,288 attendees, also in Phoenix. However, this year’s event did not disappoint the hotel industry in Greater Phoenix. Prior to the weekend, STR forecasted Phoenix’s Super Bowl weekend performance: 94% occupancy levels at $445 average rates, equating to $419 revenue per available room (RevPAR)—the second-highest levels for a Super Bowl weekend in hi...
Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Landscape – Establishing a Vision
Zabada Abouelhana | December 1, 2022
By Zabada N Abouelhana, Ahmad Yousry Elbeheiry Saudi Arabia is entering an entirely new tourism landscape with its Saudi Vision 2030 initiatives. With a strong economic outlook, a diversification of its economy, and significant governmental support, the hospitality and tourism markets across the Kingdom are expected to thrive over the next decade. Economic Performance & Outlook Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Arab world and the world’s largest crude oil exporter. In 2016, the Saudi Government launched its Saudi Vision 2030 to diversify its economic resources. The Kingdom’s plans focus on service improvement, fisc...
