Eastern promise as Russian hotels star
Eastern European hotels showed the greatest growth in revenues in the last year, outperforming the rest of the Continent, according to the latest report by consultant PKF.
While occupancy remained almost static at 62.3%, a rise of just 0.2 percentage points, revenue per available room (revpar) for Eastern Europe increased from €44,492 (£28,495) to €49,339 (£31,599) in the year to March 2002.
Greater financial stability in Russia over the last year made the country Eastern Europe's star performer. Although occupancy across Russia was just 52.8%, this was a jump of 8.8 points from the previous year, with revpar up from €39,832 (£25,510) to €49,936 (£31,599).
The PKF Country Trends report covers Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
As a whole, hotels across Europe showed a marginal increase in occupancy but not in revenues. Occupancy rose from 68.2% to 70.7%, while revpar dipped from €49,766 (£31,873) to €49,041 (£31,408).
In the Middle East, both occupancy and room rates were under attack. Across the region occupancy was down by 7.9 points to 54.9%, while revpar slumped from $47,339 (£30,454) to $42,815 (£27,551).
Kuwait, however, held on to its position as the country with the highest profits per room in the world, with revpar at $80,105 (£51,534), an increase from $77,205 (£49,668) last year. This was due mainly to its rates being controlled by the government, with each hotel compelled to charge a specified rate. Occupancies remained low, however, at 46.8%, compared with 46% the year before.
by Christina Golding
