The good news continues for UK hoteliers | PwC Reports
•Continued growth is expected in 2011, led by London as well as key provincial cities whose growth mimics London
There was more good news for UK hoteliers in September, according to analysis by PwC, as the business travel revival continued to boost trading. The return of the business traveller in recent months has been a positive factor for UK hotels. This in turn helped drive a strong Q3 performance, with London and provincial hotels turning in better-than-expected results.
Robert Milburn, UK Leader for Hospitality & Leisure at PwC, said:
“Current trading suggests this trend will continue into October, as the business travel rebound gathers pace and exchange rates continue to support international travel. This underpins our expectations that we remain on track to meet or exceed our latest forecast for 2010, which in London is for around 9% RevPAR growth.
“London’s dynamic hotel scene continues to bask in the glory of a sprightly recovery. It has been the engine driving UK hotels along the route to recovery and those we speak to expect London to keep up the pace.”
Provinces
Liz Hall, Head of Hotels Research, PwC, added:
“The provinces also continued to fight back in September, and although ‘average’ masks a mixed performance with winners and losers across much of the UK, the month saw more cities improve their performance and some international centres such as Edinburgh mimicking London’s strong growth. We anticipate that the provinces should also meet or exceed our expectations with a RevPAR gain of 1.6% this year.
“In terms of risks, worries around public sector cutbacks raise concerns whether the cuts could undermine economic recovery and hence the upturn in business travel, meetings and conference bookings.”
A look ahead to 2011
The impact of the extra boost to 2010 figures could translate into a more subdued outlook for growth in 2011. In effect with a rise in check-ins this year there may be less growth in 2011. However, PwC still anticipate around 9% RevPAR growth again in 2011 for London and 3% in the Provinces.
Robert Milburn, UK Leader for Hospitality & Leisure at PwC, concluded:
“There are risks of course, not least the economic uncertainty and London supply concerns, but it’s been a remarkable growth story in 2010. And this continued growth, albeit at a slower rate, is expected in 2011, led by London as well as key provincial cities whose growth in many ways mimics London.”