London remains one of Europe’s top city destinations, according to new figures released today in PKF Hotels Consultancy’s annual report, Country Trends 2007.
PKF said the UK capital has managed to shrug off the effects of the 2005 terrorist attacks and fight off competition from increasingly popular destinations in Eastern and Central Europe.
It said London continues to rank alongside Paris and Rome as Europe’s most popular cities.
Its analysis of the performance of 888 hotels across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa, reveals that London hotel occupancy grew by 7.7% in 2006, the year after the terrorist attacks.
Average rooms yield also growing by 15.9% as hoteliers were able to charge an average £109.97, an extra 7.6% more per room.
PKF’s monthly hotel trends data shows London hotels have continued to perform well in the first three quarters of 2007 with room rates rising a further 9% although occupancy increased by only 0.5% on the same period of the previous year.
Paris outperformed both London and Rome with occupancy rising 6.3% and room rates up 19.4% giving a 27.0% increase in rooms yield.
Occupancy and rates in Rome were up 5.5% and 3.5% respectively giving a 9.2% improvement on yield. However at €271.42, Rome’s average room rates remain more than €75.0 higher than Paris.
But PKF said competition for London hotels is increasing from Middle East and African cities, such as Muscat and Cairo.
“The rise of cheaper air travel and more resilience to geopolitical events as well as fewer entry restrictions will increase demand for many cities including those outside Europe as tourism promotion rises up many governments’ agendas,” said Robert Barnard, PKF’s partner for Hotels Consultancy Services.
“Cities are playing to their strengths and taking whatever steps are necessary to attract both business and domestic travellers. The hotel sector is likely to become even more competitive.”
By Bev Fearis
