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A new report has revealed that hotel bookings in Glasgow are at their highest level in a decade.
 
The latest statistics from Lynn Jones Forecaster, which has the largest survey sample size of hotels in Glasgow, show that occupancy in the city (to September 30) grew to 87% – a 6% rise on September 2009 and a remarkable increase of 16% compared to September 2000.
 
The LJ Forecaster report for September 2010 analysed data collected from 31 Glasgow hotels, representing 4,331 rooms – the highest number of rooms ever on sale in the city.

The report also found that room yields – the industry’s standard measure of revenue per available room (RevPAR) – are continuing to prove resilient in the face of current economic conditions.

Glasgow’s yields have increased by more than 15% over a 12-month period to an average of £64.61 compared to £54.65 in September last year. 
 
Additional industry research supports this upward trend. New data from STR (Deloitte) Global’s monthly UK hotel trends report for September, produced for Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB), shows that Glasgow hotel bookings continued to outperform many of the city’s European competitors including Copenhagen, Prague, Rome, Dublin, Barcelona and Hamburg.
 
This comes hot on the heels of a report by accountants PKF on monthly UK hotel trends for August, which showed that Glasgow enjoyed the highest year-to-date occupancy* (77.6%) of any Scottish city – the first time ever in its history. 
 
September’s successful visitor influx can largely be attributed to Glasgow’s hosting of three very different major events in the month – the Papal Visit, the second World Parkinson Congress, which was held outside of the US for the first time and attracted a record number of delegates, and hip-hop superstar P.Diddy’s MTV Crashes…Glasgow showcase at the Old Fruitmarket.
 
An estimated 70,000 people attended these events, while the Papal Visit and MTV Crashes…Glasgow further showcased the city’s event credentials to a global televised audience. As many as one billion people around the world are estimated to have watched the Papal Visit while MTV Crashes…Glasgow was broadcast via MTV channels in 161 countries and to over 640 million households during October.
 
Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “Glasgow works extremely hard to position itself in the global marketplace and our visitor attractions – from our fantastic shops, museums and galleries to the city’s proximity to outstanding scenic beauty – are among the best in the world."
 
“It is testament to Glasgow’s strength and appeal, both as a leading short-break destination and as a host city for major events and international conferences, that while many other cities are seeing a drop in visitor numbers, Glasgow is more than holding its own and our visitor numbers are at an all-time high."
 
“The opening, next year, of our iconic Riverside Museum – the city’s newest world-class visitor attraction – combined with the new infrastructure that will be in place for Glasgow’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2014, will provide the city with even greater collateral to attract additional tourism and inward investment in the years to come.”
 
Mark Gallagher, Co-Chair of Greater Glasgow Hotels Association, said: “The strength of Glasgow’s tourism sector is a reflection of the GGHA and industry partners working together with Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and the SECC to achieve business success for the city in what is a highly-competitive global environment.”