Business travel in the UK has not been waylaid by Brexit, with overall room nights booked growing 8 per cent across the top 250 destinations, according to new report.
Advantage Travel Partnership’s 2018 Hotel Markets Report reveals London continues to be the biggest city for work trips, with 663,000 room nights booked in 2018 – an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year.
Edinburgh experienced the most growth in Scotland, with booked room nights up 16 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, Belfast was not far behind with a 13 per cent increase, while Cardiff was up 5 per cent.
Derby saw the largest increase of any UK destination – room nights booked were up 31 per cent on 2017. In fact, hotels in the Midlands and North East performed particularly well in 2018, with York growing 22 per cent, Nottingham 18 per cent and Gateshead 10 per cent.
The 2018 Hotels Market Report analyses data from corporate hotel bookings make between January and December by Advantage’s TMC members, who represent around 40 per cent of the UK business travel sector.
On a global scale, New York, Auckland, Wellington, Houston, Paris and Sydney topped Advantage’s cities list. Overall, worldwide room nights booked increased 8.76 per cent year on year.
Increased demand and higher occupancy globally meant hotel rates have increased by US$2 to an average daily rate (ADR) of US$169.41.
Neil Armogie, global product director at Advantage, commented: “It is clear that the corporate hotel sector continues to grow, with another significant increase in bookings year-on-year, made by independent TMCs. Despite continued uncertainty in both the global and UK economies including Brexit, hotel room night demand is at record levels in many destinations, providing a welcome boost for our members.
“Although not all destinations in Britain saw an increase in room nights booked, ADR remained strong. It is also positive to see particularly good performance in both major cities and regions such as the East Midlands and North East.”
Read the full report here
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