HOTELS in Scotland’s three largest cities have been hit hard by the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
The PwC UK Hotels Forecast 2020-2021 shows sharp declines in all metrics on hotels across Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh this year.
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In Aberdeen occupancy was 44.1%, down from 65.5% the previous year.
The Granite City, which had been recovering from a regional economic downturn following the 2014 oil price crash, saw RevPAR fall by 33.4% as occupancy dipped to 44.1%.
However, this shows that the dip in Aberdeen is not as severe as across the Central Belt, with the Average Daily Rate (ADR) only declining slightly, by 1%, to £54.99.
However, PwC is forecasting the three cities should begin to recover in 2021 due to increased demand for ‘staycations’ across the UK, outside of London, with Scotland’s largest cities hugely popular with local tourists.
Kevin Reynard, PwC in Aberdeen senior partner, said: “Aberdeen has not had to look far for economic challenges in the last decade, and we are all too aware of how patient we have to be through the recovery, having experienced a local lockdown in August.
“The city’s hotels had shown strong signs of recovery last year and I am confident that the sector will recover again as oil & gas activity picks up and the region embraces diverse opportunities in energy transition.
“Like the rest of the country, we do not expect business travel to return to pre-Covid levels quickly – although Aberdeen has great potential as a hub for tourists looking to explore the north-east of Scotland, especially while international travel becomes increasingly difficult.”
