With plunging global economies and unprecedented bail-outs during 2008, it was only a question of time before tourism shared the pain. The first half of the year, when the financial crisis still had some way to go, most world regions were reporting double-digit growth in hotel performance until mid-way through the year. Then the deepening recession took its toll. As business travellers and tourists started to think twice about trips away, there was a significant slowdown in hotel performance in most world regions, particularly in the final quarter.

In this, the sixth edition of Deloitte's Global Performance Review, we compare average room rates, occupancies and revPAR in key cities worldwide and focus on those that finished 2008 within the top 20. Even against the difficult economic backdrop, many cities have managed to turn in impressive results. Six of them - New York, Abu Dhabi, London, Dubai, Paris and Tel Aviv - secured places in all hotel performance ranking tables.

The outlook for 2009 is naturally cautious, with the World Tourism Organisation predicting either a stagnation or slight decline in international tourist arrivals, forecasting a drop of between -1% and -2%. Meanwhile, most economists are expecting the recession to hold down employment, and housing and equity markets for some time to come.

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