Hotel revenues in Scotland were the highest in the UK despite a slight dip in occupancy levels, new figures have revealed.
A monthly hotel survey found occupancy north of the border fell by 0.9% to 79.2% in May but levels were still high compared to 75.4% in England.
However, the industry measure of revenue, known as ''rooms yield'', rose to £59.72 in Scotland - compared to £47.23 in regional UK.
Aberdeen had the highest revenue level in the UK outside of London, with Edinburgh close behind, according to the latest report by accountants and business advisers BDO LLP.
But occupancy was highest for the month in Glasgow as the city also recorded the largest increase in revenue compared to the same time last year, with experts pointing to the hosting of the HSBC Rugby 7s tournament as one of the factors behind the rise.
Alastair Rae, a partner in the property, leisure and hospitality sector at BDO, said: "The slight fall in occupancy experienced across Scotland's hotel sector is to be expected when there is an increase in revenue.
"As prices rise there is a natural settling of the level of occupancy and we can see that as the tourism season developed Scotland has soared ahead of the rest of the UK both in terms of occupancy and revenue.
"The Aberdeen hotel sector continues to soar on the back of the oil and gas sector with revenue in May almost £20 higher than it was in the same month in 2007, indicating real growth over the last seven years.
"For Edinburgh and Glasgow, however, revenue numbers are lower than the pre-recession period. This is an indication of just how substantially revenue fell over the last seven years.
"Nevertheless these figures continue the excellent progress the sector has made this year and it must be looking forward to the best year financially since 2007.
"The sector has proved to be incredibly resilient and imaginative in dealing with such substantial falls in occupancy and revenue."
Mr Rae said growing economic confidence was being mirrored in leisure spending but added that the sector needed the return of corporate hospitality spending to see pre-recession income levels.
"There are indications that this is occurring, albeit, cautiously," he added.
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