Aberdeen bucks trend as hotel occupancy rates fall

Occupancy in Scottish hotels was down but Aberdeen and Inverness saw rises

Scottish hotel revenues and occupancy rates fell for the second month in a row during April, but Aberdeen bucked the trend, according to a report.

Accountancy firm PKF's monthly hotel survey found occupancy in Scotland fell by 2.2%, with revenue down 0.7%.

Aberdeen came out top among Scottish cities, with occupancy up 4.3% and revenue soaring by 16.7%.

Inverness saw occupancy rise 2.1% and revenue up 2.4%, but both Edinburgh and Glasgow recorded falls.

Alastair Rae, a partner in the real estate and hospitality sector at PKF, said: "These figures once again reveal a highly volatile and fragile Scottish hospitality sector.

"Whilst this survey does not place Scotland last - Wales is in that position this month - as the previous months' figures did, it is still of concern that Scotland's tourist season should have begun in such a flat manner.

"Business is undoubtedly booming in Aberdeen, with Scotland's oil capital recording a substantial increase in occupancy coupled with a very large rise in revenue, indicating a buoyant and very positive hotel sector fuelled by a high oil price.

"Inverness is also benefiting from early Easter staycationing, which resulted in a bump in both occupancy and revenue."

'Problematic summer'

However, Edinburgh saw falls in occupancy and revenue of 4.2% and 4.1% respectively, while they dropped by 3.5% and 1.7% in Glasgow.

Mr Rae said the figures indicated that the sector may be facing a problematic summer in Edinburgh

"Whilst this dip may be simply down to extremely poor weather during April, the strengthening pound may account for a loss of European and North American tourists, which are essential for the tourist market in the capital," he said.

"For Glasgow, the fall in both occupancy and revenue may be accounted for by the fluctuating fortunes of its conference and concert target markets, as well as the volatility of the hotel sector as whole."

PKF's hotel trends surveys have been published since the 1970s and feature a range of hotels in the three and four star categories.