Inbound UK operators are suffering a 50% slump in business thanks to the Olympic Games, according to European Tour Operators Association research released today.
The organisation says that according to a survey of attendees at the British and Ireland Marketplace, forward placements of business for London 2012 is running at 50% below 2011 levels.
ETOA’s research showed that London hoteliers were skyrocketing rates over the Olympic summer in 2012, pricing out many long-haul visitors to the country.
It said visitors from the likes of the US and Japan could no longer get “viable rates”.
ETOA said that there was an assumption from hoteliers that the customers that would have booked during the Olympic weeks normally will now book in dates around the Games, which has pushed prices up.
And the organisation warned that reduced availability of hotel rooms which have been booked up by Olympic visitors plus high prices have caused operators to simply not sell the destination.
This in turn has a detrimental effect on UK tourism as a whole as London is the gateway city.
A statement from ETOA says: “As London is removed from the product offer, the rest of the UK goes with it.”
Regular UK clients are now heading elsewhere, with no guarantee that they will be back soon, ETOA claims.
Executive director Tom Jenkins said: “Much of this long-haul business is lost, amounting to over one million clients.
“What matters now is to gain an understanding of exactly how the demand for the Games is manifesting itself. The people who can most help this process are the organisers who are selling tickets to the games.
“How many tickets are actually being sold to foreign visitors? If we have this figure then demand can be assessed. At present an industry stands in jeopardy through over-hyped fantasies of bonanza.”
by Dinah Hatch
