This week's ABTN news in brief
London hotels suffer rate and occupancy drops
London hotels suffered a 5.6% drop in room rates and a 6% fall in occupancy in November, according to analysts PKF Hotel Consultancy Services.
The consultants said room rates fell from £137.29 in November 2007 to £129.93 while occupancy was 79.5% compared to 85.9% in 2007.
PKF said the falls were largely due to a "lack of business travellers to the city as companies across the globe look to cut costs."
UK regions suffered as much as the capital with PKF reporting room rates down 2.0% from £76.68 in 2007 to £75.17 this year and occupancy down 5.6% to 69.3%.
Overall, rooms yield was down from £56.23 in 2007 to £52.06 in 2008, a drop of 8%.
Robert Barnard, a PKF partner, said: "Figures from hoteliers in the last few months have shown they are beginning to feel the inevitable squeeze from the UK and global economic downturns. November was unfortunately no different
"In the capital however, looking at the year to date figures, there was some growth to see as room rate is up 4.7% on the same 11 month period in 2007, while overall, rooms yield was up 3.2% on the same period.
"As there is still no end in sight to the current economic downturn however, it is unfortunately probable that hoteliers will have to endure further knocks in 2009."
www.pkf.co.uk
Travelport invests in Eastern Europe
Travelport GDS, owner of Galileo and Worldspan, has made a "multi-million dollar" investment in Eastern Europe.
The travel IT company said the move was in response to its growing market in the region which it said was increasing by 20% a year.
The expansion will be focused on Russia, Hungary, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic but will also include new emerging markets.
Niklas Andréen, Travelport GDS's managing director for Eastern Europe, said: "In essence we are investing in recruiting regionally based teams who are dedicated to listening to our customers and understanding specific local market needs.
"We are especially interested in the changing patterns of consumer behaviour in this region and so are also investing heavily in research to examine how the industry will change."
www.travelport.com
Bmi regional removes fuel surcharges
Bmi regional is to remove all fuel surcharges on flights booked from Wednesday (December 17).
The airline, owned by bmi, flies from seven UK airports to 14 destinations across the UK and Europe.
The carrier removed fuel charges in November from all flights in and out of London Heathrow.
Peter Kenworthy, bmi regional's commercial director, said: "The abolition of fuel surcharges on these short haul flights is designed to help encourage more business and leisure travel."
www.flybmi.com
JAL to trial Japanese ETS
Japanese airline JAL is to participate in trials of the country's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
A trial of the scheme, in which units of carbon gas are traded, will run from 2008 until the end of financial year 2012.
JAL has set itself a target of a 16% reduction in CO2 emissions per available seat kilometre (ASK) for its domestic fleet by the end of the trial, compared to 1990 levels.
www.jal.com
Vienna International records 8.4% decline
Vienna International Airport has reported an 8.4% decline in passenger numbers for November.
Numbers fell from 1,525,315 during November 2007 to 1,407,118 this year. Flight movement also declined 6.2% for the month.
Passengers travelling to the Middle East increased 10.8%, while numbers destined for Europe fell 7.4%.
But the airport recorded growth for the first 11 months to November of 6.4% bringing the number of passengers handled up to 18,404,766.
www.viennaairport.com