No quick recovery, managers warned
Hoteliers can expect business to be tough until well into 2003, with figures not returning to 2000 levels until 2004, says a leading consultant.
Speaking at the ninth Annual Hotel General Managers Conference at London's Savoy hotel, Stuart May, director of hotel consultancy services at PKF, said he did not expect a speedy recovery from the effects of foot-and-mouth and 11 September until well into 2003.
"The first quarter of 2002 will be the low point… the indication is that there will be a slow recovery in the second half of 2002," he said. May thought 2003 would be a year of continuing recovery, assuming there were no more disasters of the sort seen in 2001. It would probably be 2004 by the time buinsess returned to the levels enjoyed in 2000.
He said business from the USA could take as long as four years to recover. "At the moment there is a 9.2% drop in US visitors, which is about the same as after the Gulf War," he added.
- Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, was presented with a special award at the conference for his efforts last year in representing the industry during difficult times. "I am just doing my job and you pay me very well for it," said Cotton, as he accepted a vase.
