Last year was challenging for the hotel industry and the pressure does not look likely to let up soon, according to a new executive report from Deloitte. "A Changed Landscape" analyzes the state of the looks at the tourism, hospitality and leisure industries as they look to recover from the economic crisis. Hoteliers found it harder to fill rooms toward the end of 2008 as tourists and business travelers cut back on travel expenses, per the study. Drawing on data from Smith Travel Research, the report describes the drops in occupancy levels throughout most big cities, and the slowdown in revenue per available room (revPAR) in most regions of the world. North American revPAR declined 1.6 percent while Asia Pacific and Europe grew by less than 2 percent. None fared worse than Reykajavik, Iceland. The desitnation was hit hardest hit by the recession. With a 21.5 percent drop in revPAR and 61.7 percent decrease in occupancy it was one of the largest drops recorded. Deloitte predicts that the challenge hoteliers now face is whether to discount average room rates to pull in more customers now, or to hold it at current levels until demand picks up. Not all regions were in decline. The Middle East made a strong showing in 2008. The region enjoyed an occupancy rate of 68.8 percent—the highest in the world—and saw a revPAR growth of 18.3 percent. As Dubai's growth has leveled off, nearby Abu Dhabi picked up the slack with occupancy reaching 81.5 percent. Beirut had the highest revPAR growth of the Middle East of 101.1 percent. This reflects the growing stability of the region and confidence of travelers. Occupancy has risen from 36 percent to 55.2 percent this year.Central and South America saw a 14.5 percent increase in revPAR, due primarily to an increase in room rates of 13.4 percent. Europe saw a revPAR increase of 1.8 percent in U.S. dollar terms.