Scottish hotels still lag UK

SCOTLAND'S hotel market stabilised in May following a downturn in April but still lagged behind the UK as a whole, according a report out yesterday.

Occupancy levels rose by 2.8 per cent year-on-year in Scotland, compared with 5.7 per cent for the entire UK.

Room yield - the industry's standard measure of revenue - rose by 5.2 per cent to an average of 45.69 for the UK, with the figure north of the Border edging up 0.3 per cent to 56.04.

Alastair Rae, a partner at accountancy firm PKF, which conducted the survey, said: "Scottish hotels had a more positive month than April and there are some signs that occupancy levels and rooms yield are stabilising rather than fully recovering.

"The trend would appear to indicate that Scotland is lagging the rest of the UK somewhat with the relatively low increase in occupancy and the almost static figure for rooms yield."

PKF said the figures indicated discounting of room prices in Aberdeen and Edinburgh to maintain occupancy levels, while there was a slight upturn in revenue in Glasgow. Occupancy rose in Aberdeen by 3.9 per cent, 6.7 per cent in Glasgow and 2.6 per cent in Edinburgh.