UK hotels have failed to benefit significantly from the upturn in global tourism, with room rates hardly improving over the past year, according to new figures.
The latest survey of the hotel industry by accountancy firm PFK found that London hotels enjoyed a 21 per cent rise in occupancy and a 10 per cent rise in room rates over the past year.
However, the increase in room rates merely cancelled out the 10 per cent fall last April when tourism fell sharply due to the war in Iraq.
Outside London, hotel owners saw occupancy edge up just 1.5 per cent to 69.2 per cent, while the average room rate increased by 3.3 per cent to £60.80.
Like hotels in London, regional room rates and profits didn’t surpass the dip of last year, despite the increase in the number of tourists entering the UK.
Small firms relying on the tourism industry, such as hotels, have endured a turbulent past three years since the September 11 terrorist attacks and the foot and mouth outbreak prevented thousands of tourists visiting the UK in 2001.
Hopes of a significant recovery have been dashed by the Iraq war and the increased fear of terrorism, which has put off many tourists from travelling.
However, it was hoped that the upturn in the global economy would trigger a fightback from UK hotels – a prospect that now looks to be some months away.
Robert Barnard, of PKF, said that on the surface, the latest figures look very healthy, with positive figures across the board.
“But when you dig deeper and compare the results to those for April 2003, then it’s clear that room rate is an issue for the whole of the UK, with levels not recovering from the battering they took last year due to the impact of the war on Iraq and the SARS outbreak.
“Hoteliers will be disappointed that they have not achieved stronger room rate growth, but it’s normal to build back occupancy before increasing prices, so I suspect they are simply following this strategy and they will be banking on seeing room rate levels improve later in the summer,” he said.
