People pay more to stay in hotels

People spent more on hotel and bed-and-breakfast accommodation in February and as a result, the total income for SA's tourist accommodation sector rose by 8.8% year-on-year according to Statistics SA's (Stats SA) tourist accommodation survey released on Monday (22 April).

The survey is conducted monthly and covers a sample of public and private enterprises involved in the short-stay accommodation sector‚ with the results used to compile estimates of tourism satellite accounts as well as the country's gross domestic product.

Stats SA said that income‚ from accommodation only‚ increased by 9.3% year-on-year in February‚ the result of a 3.8% increase in the number of stay-unit nights sold and a 5.4% increase in the average income per stay-unit night sold.

Stats SA describes a stay-unit as a unit of accommodation available to be charged out to guests. Examples include a powered site in a caravan park or a hotel room.

The types of accommodation that recorded the highest year-on-year growth rates in income in February were hotels (10.7%)‚ other accommodation (8.8%) and caravan parks and camping sites (5.1%).

The main contributor to the 9.3% year-on-year increase in income from accommodation was hotels‚ which contributed 7.2 percentage points‚ followed by other accommodation‚ with a contribution of 2.3 percentage points.

Income from accommodation rose by 8.0% in first three months of this year.