THE hotel sectors in Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh all enjoyed a sharp year-on-year rise in revenue in October, in contrast to a fairly flat performance in Glasgow, a survey has revealed.
Accountancy firm BDO, which published the survey yesterday, attributed the strong performance by hotels in Inverness to the city's staging of the Highland Baby Show in October and to increased numbers of tourists seeking a late break.
Hotels in Inverness achieved revenue per available room of £48.48 in October, up 23.1% on the same month of 2012.
Revenue per available room, or rooms yield, is calculated by multiplying occupancy by the average room rate achieved.
The occupancy rate in Inverness hotels in October was 82.4%, up from 75.2% in the same month of 2012.
Aberdeen hotels' revenue per available room came in at £75.97 in October, up 11.9% on a year earlier.
BDO, which surveys a broad range of three- and four-star properties, highlighted the continued benefits flowing to the Aberdeen hotel sector from the buoyancy of the oil and gas sector.
The Aberdeen hotel sector achieved a year-on-year rise in revenue in October even though the occupancy rate, at 81.5%, was down from 84.9% a year earlier.
Hotels in Edinburgh achieved revenue per available room of £67.18 in October - up 11.1% on a year earlier. The occupancy rate for the Edinburgh hotel sector came in at 84.5%, up from 79.8% in the same month of 2012.
In the hotel sector in Glasgow, rooms yield came in at £53.61. This was up just 0.4% on the same month of 2012.
The occupancy rate for Glasgow hotels came in at 83.8% in October, down from 85.3% a year earlier.
Scottish hotels enjoyed a 9.8% overall year-on-year rise in revenue per available room in October, to £58.68.
This was well ahead of a figure of £45.15 for England, excluding London, and rooms yield of £40 for Wales.
Aberdeen, again, had the highest revenue per available room anywhere in the UK outside London. In terms of rooms yield, Edinburgh was in fifth position outside London, with only Aberdeen, Oxford, Bath and Windsor achieving greater revenue.
Alastair Rae, a partner of BDO who specialises in the property, leisure and hospitality sectors, said: "The hospitality sector is one of the key barometers of how well the economy is performing, and this sustained increase in performance over 2013 indicates that things are improving.
"It seems likely, given all the recent economic data, that this will continue into 2014 when, we hope, the sector will experience one of its best years for some time."
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