Tourism boom helps city hotels hit new heights
BIRMINGHAM’S hotel sector has enjoyed its most successful year in history, according to a new report.
Occupancy rates for 2016 peaked at 99 per cent capacity and averaged at 75 per cent, which were both the highest on record, according to the report by Marketing Birmingham’s Regional Observatory.
The data reveals both the proportion of international visitors and overnight visitors to the city have doubled in the last three years.
Overnight guests now account for 45 per cent of all visitors, compared to 21 per cent in 2013.
While the proportion of international visitors has grown from six per cent to 12 per cent, with the most visi- tors travelling from European countries such as France and the Netherlands, as well as from the US.
Additionally, the proportion of leisure visitors to the city has also increased – from 45 per cent in 2013 to 76 per cent in 2016.
The Birmingham Perception Survey 2016 – a report that looks at consumer perception trends over time – con- firms a step change in the city’s reputation as a tourist destination.
Visitor expenditure hit £82 per head in 2016, up by a third on the figure of £61 recorded in 2013, and revenue per available room, the metric used to evaluate a hotel’s performance, averaged at £50 in 2016 which is the highest figure Birmingham has ever recorded.
Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport and chairman of Marketing Birmingham, said: “Birmingham has become one of the great cultural powerhouses of Europe.
“International visitors are at a record high, as is domestic tourism while both Birmingham Airport and the city’s hotel sector are currently celebrating their most successful year in history. This is the outcome of a flourishing leisure offer, a concerted effort to ensure Birmingham’s connectivity is world class, and leveraging crucial public and private partnerships across the city.”