Scottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

Catering in Scotland magazine is published bi-monthly with in-depth features, views and news for the Scottish catering, hospitality and tourism industry. On this page we have the latest news to keep you constantly updated on the market. On the left hand side of the page you can search our archived news which is stored monthly.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Scottish Hotels Hit Further by Economic Downturn

Revenue and occupancy levels in Scottish hotels fell during February in line with the rest of the UK as the downturn in the economy continues. According to the latest survey by accountants and business advisers, PKF, rooms yield in Scotland fell by 10.3% in February, compared to a decrease of 13.4% across the UK, while occupancy levels fell by 5.2% compared to a drop of 7.7% across the UK.

'It should be noted that Scotland's figures are coming down from a historically high starting point and are only now drawing level with the rest of the UK,' says Alastair Rae, a partner in the Hospitality and Leisure sector at PKF. 'Indeed, the actual figure for rooms yield in Aberdeen is, at ?61.41, the highest outside London.'

The downturn in the economy is now hitting all price sectors of the market, although less so in the lowest range as this had already experienced substantial falls in occupancy and rooms yield over the last year.

'The deteriorating economic climate coupled with some severe weather conditions have combined to make the start to 2009 pretty challenging for Scottish hoteliers,' continues Alastair. 'There is now ample evidence of reduced spending in both the leisure and business markets, resulting in continuing falls in both occupancy and rooms yield. This is occurring across the UK and there is no city or region in our survey which has not had a decline in occupancy and rooms yield since the start of the year.

'The reduction in both occupancy and rooms yield is broadly in line with the other parts of the UK, so this is a sector-wide reduction which is unlikely to pick up until there are some signs of a recovery in the wider economy.

'It is clear that the coming year is likely to be very difficult for the hotel sector, with our early predictions of a difficult 2009 now being widely experienced across all of the hospitality industry. Although some character and destination hotels are suffering less, several mainstream operators have had low room rates and some very attractive incentives on offer for the Easter weekend, which indicates that they are wrestling with a fairly subdued market.'

Internet marketing and web design by Trinity Heriot
Catering in Scotland : Scottish Catering, Hospitality & Tourism magazine