UK hotels enjoy positive Q1 thanks to rise in international visitors

UK hotels enjoyed a positive start to the year thanks to a significant rise in hotel demand by international visitors.

This is according to Expedia's data for Q1 2018, which shows that international demand increased compared to the same period last year, with London the number one destination for global travellers who booked on Expedia Group's sites during the time period.

Outside of London, several major cities experienced double-digit growth, including Birmingham (15% year-on-year), Bristol (15% year-on-year), Newcastle (over 10% year-on-year), Manchester and Glasgow (each just over 10% year-on-year).

For the UK as a whole, hoteliers enjoyed positive growth from overseas travellers, with demand buoyant from traditionally strong visitor markets such as the US (almost 55% year-on-year), Germany (almost 45% year-on-year) and Australia (45% year-on-year).

Demand was further fuelled by visitors from several fast-growing markets, such as Spain, Argentina, Ireland and Mexico, which all featured triple-digit year-on-year increases. Furthermore, there was notable growth in travellers from Far East countries such as China, Korea and Hong Kong.

Package demand to the UK has also grown strongly across a number of visitor market. This is attributed to marketing campaigns, which helped push up average daily rates for these types of bookings (a combination of hotel, and/or flight and/or car hire).

Irene Roberts, director of market management, UK and Ireland, lodging partner services at Expedia, said: "Our first quarter data for 2018 shows what an encouraging start to the year our hotel partners across the UK have enjoyed. Our proposition of providing them with a global reach through our investment in technology and marketing is helping capture those valuable international visitors and driving conversions.

"It's particularly encouraging to see strong growth in demand across many areas of the country, and with the approaching UK summertime popular with international guests, hotels should hopefully enjoy some busy months ahead."

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