With an occupancy rate of 71% throughout the European Union at the end of three quarters in 2015, hotel chains gained 2 points over 2014 at the same period.
Performances on the continent show an increase over last year thanks to growth in the ADR** (+3.5%) and a RevPAR*** up by 6.4%. Some destinations produced better results, depending on their geographic location. Once again the assortment of events held in some cities played a key role in the success of their performances.
Southern Europe cities are performing well. Italian cities' results are driven by events.
The hospitality industry of San Sebastian, Seville, Zaragoza and Bilbao, all in the top 10 of RevPAR growth, is having a good year. Madrid and Malaga are following this trend too, with double-digit RevPAR growth by 11.8% and 12.1% respectively.
Meanwhile, with "EXPO Milano" (from May 1 till October 31), the city of Milan expects to welcome over 20 million visitors. For the moment, the city has experienced the strongest growth in RevPAR in Europe. Other cities in Italy record good results too with Venice and Turin; the city of romance saw its ADR rise by over 19% (helped by the "Biennale di Venezia") leading to a RevPAR up by 17.3%, while the RevPAR in the capital of the Piedmont region increased by 12.3%. Bologna records similar results as Turin, but Rome is the only Italian city in this sample to be on a downtrend (RevPAR: -7.5%).
Following the trend of the first semester most Western Europe cities have good RevPAR results. UK main cities shine by their occupancy rates.
The United Kingdom cities continue to keep the lead in terms of occupancy rate with 84.4% for London, the main business destination in Europe, while Edinburgh is still in second position. But, from the beginning of the year, the RevPAR for these two cities followed a negative trend due to respective decreases in ADR by 4.5% and 4.6%.
In Germany, only Dusseldorf and Nuremberg recorded a downtrend in RevPAR. With solid business tourism, Stuttgart (Intergeo 2015), Cologne (IAW 2015) and Berlin (CMS 2015) saw their RevPAR increase.
In France, only Paris is on a slight downtrend, with a RevPAR down by 0.9%. Other cities in the country record good performances, Lille organised "EuroBasket 2015", Cannes and Nice welcomed events and congresses, Bordeaux and Lyon had a good summer after business events in the first half of the year.
Benelux stayed on the right track from the beginning of the year, with a significant number of political events and meetings to explain its good performance. Brussels and Amsterdam respectively recorded a 6.4% and 7.3% increase in their RevPAR, while Luxembourg has the strongest RevPAR growth in this area (+14.8%).
Scandinavian and Eastern Europe cities also stay on a positive trend.
In Scandinavia, all cities are on a positive trend except Copenhagen and Helsinki showing a relative stabilisation in their RevPAR. Oslo and Stockholm record a combined increase in occupancy rate and ADR.
In Eastern Europe, international events improved results; Warsaw with "International Building & Interiors Exhibition 2015" produced growth in its RevPAR by 9.5%, since the beginning of the year. But, Budapest records the best RevPAR increase in this area (+12.5%) while Prague's results remained stable (+0.6%).
All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report with all the graphs and analysis.
European Hotels' Occupancy Rate, Average Rate and RevPAR variations 2015 vs 2014
*ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report: A report produced by MKG Hospitality and released several times a year by ECM that presents the development of key performance indicators for ECM member cities.
**ADR: Average Daily Rate - room revenue divided by number of sold rooms.
***RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room - occupancy rate x average price or room revenue divided by available rooms. - See more at: http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/69321/european-cities-marketing-and-mkg#st
