Glasgow hotels chairman sets tough new agenda

David Ibbotson has been elected chairman of the Greater Glasgow Hotel Association.

Ibbotson, general manager of the Millennium Copthorne hotel in the city, succeeds Dominic McVey, general manager of the Glasgow Posthouse.

In his new role, Ibbotson plans to lobby the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow to have its own tourist board.

He said a priority for the association was to increase the number of places for students taking Modern Apprenticeships at the city's hotels and Strathclyde University. At the moment, some 33 students take the hospitality courses each year.

Ibbotson also said he thought that Scotland's largest city was in need of more five-star hotels. He added that the saturation of the budget market was one reason why room rates had not grown with inflation.

He said: "We need something that's going to lead the rate on. Average room rate is below that of other cities."

Occupancy for 2001 stayed at 70.7%, the same as the previous year, while average room rate was £64.06, up by 0.7% on the previous year.