Scots hotels buck trend to post rise

Published on Friday 3 July 2009 21:26

SCOTLAND'S hotel sector outperformed the rest of the UK in May, according to the latest monthly survey by accountants and business advisers, PKF.

Scottish hotels reported a 0.6 per cent rise in occupancy levels, significantly better than the UK average of -5.5 per cent.

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow had an increase in occupancy, rising 2.3 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.

However, the figure fell 10 per cent in Aberdeen, which experts claimed could be related to the fluctuations in the price of oil affecting the level of business being done in the region.

Room yield – the industry measure of revenue – was down 4.1 per cent in Scotland, but fell 14.6 per cent across the UK, with the worst performance coming from Wales, where the figures slumped by 21.9 per cent.

Alastair Rae from PKF said: "The latest monthly figures indicate that Scotland seems to continue to be outperforming the rest of the UK during these very difficult times.

"Edinburgh has now had two months of positive occupancy figures and a reasonable degree of stability in rooms yield which might be an early indication that this could be a reasonably good tourism year for the capital."

However, he added: "These figures are relatively positive for Scotland, but should be treated with some caution as it is clear that we are still some distance from recovery."

The survey – which has been published since the early 1970s – includes a "broad range" of three- and four-star hotels across the country.