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The year-on-year decline in occupancy rates in Aberdeen’s hotel sector slowed to its weakest pace in 12 months, showing signs that the city is “getting back on its feet”.
That’s according to the latest LJ Forecaster Scottish Intercity Report, which found Aberdeen hotels achieved an occupancy rate of 62.6% in April 2016, which was down only 2.5% compared with last year.
The slowdown follows 12 months of consecutive double-digit decreases in occupancy in the city.
The report said despite the decrease and the occupancy figure being nearly 19% below that of two years ago, the data suggests some signs of stabilisation in the market. This was supported by forward bookings for the next three months, May to July, which are over 3% higher compared with the same period last year.
However, the city’s ongoing challenges were highlighted by the continued decline in average room rate (ARR) by 26.8% to £67.74. As a result, revenue per available room (RevPAR) decreased for the 17th consecutive month falling by 28.7% to £42.37.
Steve Harris, chief executive of VisitAberdeenshire, said: “The past few months have been difficult for hoteliers in Aberdeen, but it is promising that occupancy rates across the city now appear to be levelling out.
“With forward bookings also on the increase, it is a sign that hotel occupancy in Aberdeen is getting back on its feet.”
Glasgow achieve the highest occupancy across the three Scottish cities with 83.1% of its rooms sold in April, up 1.6% from last year, while ARR grew for the fifth consecutive month by 1.3% to £72.33.
Highlighting Glasgow’s rapid growth over the last two years, the ARR figure was 13.1% higher than in April 2014. Increases in ARR and occupancy resulted in RevPAR of £59.92 – up 2.9%.
Looking ahead to the next three months, just over half of all rooms have already been sold by Glasgow hotels. This result indicates a decrease of 3.5% in forward bookings compared with the same period last year.
Meanwhile, accommodation demand for hotel in Edinburgh fell by 5.7%, resulting in an average occupancy of 79.2%.
However, Edinburgh hotels benefited from a continued trend of room rate growth as ARR rose for the fifth consecutive month to £90.45 – up 5% – while, RevPAR was relatively flat at £71.64.
