An economic center reveals major losses for Baghdad hotels for the year 2021

The logo of the Iraqi Political Economic Center
 
01/03/2022

Economy News - Baghdad

The management of the Iraqi Political Economic Center revealed large financial losses in the hotels of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, during 2021, and a very low occupancy rate that does not match the wages and salaries of its employees.

According to a questionnaire conducted by the Center through a number of interviews with managers of mixed sector hotels in Baghdad, who complained about the problems facing their work, including the general situation in the country and the accompanying events at the level of economy and security and the Corona virus pandemic, which greatly affected the work of hotels and the need to adhere to the health instructions issued From the Ministry of Health and the Iraqi Tourism Authority regarding the mechanism used in work and for various reasons, including the lack of Arab and foreign tourists and the difficulty of their entry to Iraq due to visa granting procedures and government procedures followed.

And the hotel management, according to the center, pointed to “the lack of support from the Iraqi state and government in supporting hotels and easing their burden regarding reducing taxes, electricity, water, fees and wages that are collected from hotels, especially since a large number of Arab and foreign countries in the world and due to the Corona virus pandemic have supported the hotel sector for those Countries through various tax exemptions and multiple loans aimed at strengthening the labor market in the hotel sector in their countries.

And the center, according to what was mentioned by the managing directors of hotels, the capital, Baghdad, the occupancy rates in the hotels were as follows:

1. Baghdad International Hotel
came with a year of occupancy (30%) of the total (170) rooms

2. Babylon Rotana Hotel
came with an occupancy rate of (24%) out of the total (300) rooms

3. Al-Mansour Hotel
came with an occupancy rate of (19%) out of a total of (262) rooms

4. Palestine Hotel

It came with an occupancy rate of (10%) out of a total of (348) rooms

The center also stated that "it did not obtain the statistics of the Ishtar Sheraton Hotel for reasons related to the change of hotel managers and the lack of official statistics for the year 2021 so far."

He added, "We were not able to conduct an interview with the administration of the Al-Rasheed Hotel because of the privacy of the hotel in terms of security, and the presence of the hotel within the Green Zone prevented access to an official permit from the hotel regarding the hotel's occupancy rate."

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