April slump for hotel bookings

The latest figures released by STR Global, leaders in benchmarking and research for the hotel industry, show that occupancies across all gradings fell 19.2% to 55.8% in greater Cape Town in April while in greater Johannesburg occupancies fell 25% to 55%.

“April was abysmal,” Arthur Gillis, MD of Protea Hotels, said.

“The ... public holidays and the election in the middle of the week wiped us out as there was little corporate or government travel.”

Clifford Ross, CEO of City Lodge Hotels, said the group also had a torrid April.

The one consolation was that the industry managed to maintain its average room rate, rising 7.2% year on year to R832 in April.

While occupancies bounced back last month, they remained below the levels achieved at this time last year and were in line with the figures in the first three months of the year, despite the staging of three major sporting events.

Southern Sun was the biggest beneficiary of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Lions rugby tours as the official hotel group. Graham Wood, MD of Southern Sun, said while the group had benefited from the tours — booking close to 20000 room nights for the IPL alone — market conditions remained subdued.

STR said SA was one of the worst-performing markets in the Middle East-Africa region in April.

“It is getting harder to find a positive angle in the Middle East Africa performance data,” James Chappell, MD of STR, said.

He said the region, which had been insulated somewhat from the effects of the global recession, “now seems just as susceptible” as other global regions.

Source: Business Day

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