Europe's hotel industry bounded back in 2005 with an across the board 2.4% rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) and a 1.1% increase in occupancy, according to a new report by MKG Consulting.
The Paris-based agency said that figures for the three months to the end of September showed an exactly similar improvement for the industry.
MKG said in its Third Trimester report on European Hotels that the improvement had been helped by the return of both US and Japanese visitors.
It said room nights generated by Americans “particularly contribute to the average room rates because of a superior spending capacity.”
It said the return of the Japanese resulted from a healthier economy there in 2004.
In the nine months to the end of September, the 25 countries in the EU had an occupancy rate of 66.9%, an average room rate of 98.7 and a revPAR of 66.1.
The UK enjoyed the highest occupancy rate at 74.1% and Poland the lowest at 57.2%.
Denmark had both the highest average room rate ( 136.7) and revPAR (90.8). Poland was again bottom of the table with, respectively, 58.1 and 33.3.
Four countries had an increase in revPAR in double figures, Sweden (15.8%), Denmark (13.2%), Hungary (13.21%) and Poland (10.7%) and only one, Spain had a drop (-1.3%).
On individual countries, MKG said that France had had an almost uninterrupted rise in revPAR for the last five years and that in 2005, its business market had been stronger, thanks to events like the Bourget air show.
Upmarket hotels in Paris had also benefited from the return of American visitors.
The UK had a 3.4% increase in revPAR in the first nine months of 2005 but the third quarter to September showed a slow down attributed to the July terrorist attacks in London.
There were also signs that the slow down in the UK economy was having an effect.
In Germany, rates and occupancy varied almost from month to month and region from region depending on whether there were fairs or exhibitions.
Frankfurt, for example, had a 15.3% rise in revPAR in September because of the Automobile Fair.