EUROPE – The hotel industry ended the year 2014 with a 3.8% increase in RevPAR and an occupancy rate of around 70%.
The European average daily rates lifted by 2% last year.
Hoteliers hiked their rates following a surge in international arrivals and a slight recovery in some European countries.
A new report states that most European countries are on a growth trend with the return to activity is driven by Southern Europe.
According to the ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report, strong growth in occupancy rates were recorded by Lisbon (+3.7 points), Madrid (+3.9 points), Seville (+4.8 points) and Zaragoza (+6.0 points).
The report said the cities and their respective countries suffered the impact of the financial crisis in 2008 but kept their appeal to foreign clientele, particularly in a tense global geopolitical and economic context. As a result, their price competitiveness have fully benefited to their tourism and hotel industry.
Spain has ended 2014 with a new record of tourist arrivals while cities like Lisbon, financially attractive to foreign clientele, benefit from the dynamism of international arrivals and comes at the top of this recovery with a strong increase in RevPAR by 7.9%.
Renewed activity was also observed in Central Europe, the report says. Budapest stood out with double-digit growth in its RevPAR and a strong international clientele, driven by the democratisation of airline connections and attractive prices.
The hotel industry in Northern and Western Europe showed its resistance with indicators up in most countries.
London had the highest occupancy rate in this part of Europe, close to 86%, and has seen its RevPAR increase by 3.4% in 2014. Great Britain has progressed since London hosted the Olympics in 2012.
Copenhagen saw its RevPAR increase due to the high occupancy rate of the congress sector. In Germany, the success of the major trade fairs and expos together with the growing popularity of the country as a weekend destination both benefited the hotel industry.
Ignasi de Delàs, ECM President said: “Driven by the rebound of Southern Europe, all of the continent’s hotel industry made a comeback in 2014. This is good news as we struggled to find our way out of the worst economic period in our history. Tourism has been a major contributor of economic recovery in Europe as it is still the most visited region in the world.”
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