London hotels reported a close to 13% increase in room revpar to ï¿¡103.12 in June, according to the latest survey -

The rise was backed by an 11.7 per cent growth in average rate to ï¿¡118.20. Occupancy was also up slightly, rising 0.9 points to 87.2 per cent.

"The capital is continuing to enjoy a very strong trading environment with hoteliers able to push rates upwards despite modest increases in occupancy," said Jonathan Langston, managing director of TRI Hospitality Consulting.

The provinces also put in a good performance, thanks to the most convincing monthly growth in provincial occupancy this year, rising by 1.8 points to 75.8 per cent, double the increase experienced in the capital.

Improved occupancy levels, combined with average room rate up by 4 per cent to ï¿¡73.26, resulted in a rise in revpar of 6.4 per cent to ï¿¡55.53.

Glasgow and Sheffield shine despite downpours

TRI's unique database of more than 500 full-service hotels across the country shows that Glasgow and Sheffield put in particularly strong performances in June, with revpar increases of 27 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

"In Glasgow, the revpar improvement was aided by three major medical conferences at the SECC with nearly 5,000 delegates," said Langston.

In Sheffield it was the International Indian Film Academy awards held at the city's Hallam FM arena that boosted revpar with some 28,000 visitors to the Sheffield area. In addition, a spell of flooding at the end of June may have caused some travellers to unexpectedly seek refuge in one of the city's hotels.

In the six months to June, total revpar in London rose by 10.6 per cent to ï¿¡23,340, while in the provinces total revpar was up 4.5 per cent to ï¿¡17,400.

In the provinces, total revpar grew at a faster rate than room revpar in the year to date, indicating increased levels of income from food and beverage, leisure and other departments, while in London room revpar continued to increase faster than total revpar.

Lack of North Americans affects overseas spend

The overall volume of overseas visitors to the UK increased by two per cent, according to official Government statistics. From all source markets the number of visitors was 8.1m during the three months to the end of May. The largest increase came from the 12 new EU ascension states, up 28 per cent to 750,000.

In contrast, visitors from North America fell by nine per cent to just over 1m, which contributed to a two per cent drop in overseas expenditure to ï¿¡3.5b.

UKinbound, the official trade body representing the inbound tourism industry, reported modest rises in visitor arrivals and forward bookings of 3.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively during May. UKinbound said that the growth continues to be limited to short haul business while the long haul markets have remained flat.

Indeed, airports operator BAA confirmed that North American traffic into its seven UK airports remained flat during June. However, there was a 4.3 per cent increase in long haul passenger arrivals from outside North America, the only routes showing significant growth. European scheduled passenger numbers were up by 0.8 per cent and European charter traffic declined by 7.2 per cent.

For more information contact Jonathan Langston on email jonathan.langston@trihc.com