It happened for the first time in many months that hotels in the UAE witnessed a hike in occupancy levels. The data from STR Global survey showed on Wednesday that this could come as a relief to the country's hospitality industry, which was in soup during 2009.

The hospitality research firm explained that there was a rise by 1.7% to 65.5 percent in occupancy levels during the month, as compared to the year-before period.

But on the other hand, revenues kept falling, with revenue per available room (RevPar), a chief measure of performance, plunging 20.3 percent to 569.35 dirhams ($155).

STR said, "Occupancy and revenues fell across the Middle East during the month. Occupancy levels fell 2.4 percent to 56.8 percent, while RevPAR was down 7.9 percent to $94.53."

It added that throughout 2009, occupancy in the Middle East plummeted 10.9 percent to 62.0 percent compared to the previous year, while RevPar fell by 13.3 percent to $95.44.

It was last year when Dubai hotels witnessed the worst declines in revenue among Middle Eastern cities, as there was a fall of over 30 percent on 2008, while Muscat hotels experienced the worst occupancy drop, falling 21.1 percent to 53.6 percent.

STR said, "Beirut's hotels gained the most during the year as occupancy rose 27.5 percent to 70.9 percent and RevPar soared 62.1 percent to $145.53."