Hotels hammered by big fall in occupancy

THE downturn is continuing to hit the Scottish hotel sector, with revenue falling by 2.9 per cent and occupancy down by 9.2 per cent last November.

However, Edinburgh bucked the trend by recording an improvement in occupancy rates of 1.2 per cent. At the other end of the scale, Aberdeen experienced the largest drop in occupancy in the UK, with a 17 per cent fall.

Alastair Rae, a partner in the real estate and hospitality sector at PKF, said: "November is always a quiet month for the hospitality sector, and continued economic uncertainty, coupled with job insecurity, is likely to have caused this fairly large decline in occupancy and rooms yield."