Posted tagged ‘European Union’

Growth in European cities’ hotel industry well established for the first semester 2015

September 24, 2015

Growth in European cities’ hotel industry well established for the first semester 2015
The results for first semester of 2015 from the ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report* confirm the long-term growth for Europe’s hotel industry.

With an occupancy rate of 67.5% throughout the European Union in the first semester, hotel chains gained 1.8 points over 2014 at the same period. The performances on the continent show an increase compared to last year with the Average Daily Rates (ADR**) (+3%) and the Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR***) (+5.8%). Some destinations produced better results depending on their geographic location. The variety of events held in some cities played a major role in the success of their performances.

Good RevPAR results for most Western Europe cities.
With solid business tourism, Germany experienced a strong increase in its ADR: Stuttgart (MedTec Europe 2015), Hanover (Hannover Messe 2015) and Cologne (FESPA 2015) know a RevPAR increase by more 13%. Other German cities such as Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg are following this trend too. Currently, Düsseldorf after a year 2014 with international events meets some difficulties, 2015 seems to be less attractive for the business meetings.
Many cities in France (like Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse or Nice) presented good results thanks to the organisation of many international business events (VINEXPO in Bordeaux, SIRHA in Lyon, MIDEM or MIPTV in Cannes) or medical congress in Nice. Paris is the exception with a negative change in its RevPAR (-0.7%).
Benelux keeps on the right track from the beginning of the year; the number of political events and meetings explains its good performance. Brussels and Amsterdam recorded respectively an 4.9% and 3.4% increase in its RevPAR, Luxembourg have the highest RevPAR progression in this area (+12.5%).

Northern and Eastern Europe cities perform well thanks to international events. But Scandinavia is on a downtrend.
In terms of occupancy rate, the United Kingdom is keeping the lead with London, the biggest business place in Europe and Edinburgh in second position.
In terms of RevPAR, Copenhagen and Budapest got the highest results thanks to business and sport events (EuroBasket Women in Hungary). Prague, with the Ice Hockey World Championship 2015, records a positive RevPAR progression, when the city had a strong decrease on this indicator 3 months ago. Vienna (with EASL’s International Congress 2015) and Warsaw (with 2015 UEFA Europa League Final and World food Warsaw 2015), improved their RevPAR respectively by 3.2% and 8.4% since the beginning of the year.
Only Oslo stands out from its Scandinavian counterparts’ thanks to its ADR rise. Helsinki and Stockholm record a combined decrease in both occupancy rate and ADR.

All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report with all the graphs and analysis.

INCON publishes Expert Article

December 20, 2013

INCON publishes Expert Article on ‘VAT and the PCO’
An Expert Article recently published by INCON explores the treatment of VAT by PCOs with particular reference to the comprehensive changes which have been implemented in the European Union since 2010.

Authored by Oumar Counta, Director of BC&A Tax advisers, this thought leadership piece outlines the most important elements of recent VAT changes – particularly the changes to ‘place of supply’ which have had massive consequences for PCOs who operate internationally.

Click here to access a complete copy of the Expert Article which has been published on www.incon-pco.com or contact;

Angela Guillemet
Executive Director, INCON Group
Tel: +353 1 663 7947
Email: angela@incon-pco.com

About INCON
INCON is a dynamic partnership of leading companies providing consistency and continuity in conference, event and destination management by combining global presence and local expertise. Operating from 160 destinations, the 10 INCON Partner companies employ 3,000 staff, annually organise 10,000 projects, serving 3 million delegates, procuring 5 million bed nights and managing budgets in excess of an estimated €1 billion.

European hospitality results 2011

February 10, 2012

European hospitality results 2011: betwixt satisfaction and a question mark

The year 2011 closes with positive indicators for hotel business throughout the European Union, with an average of 5.6% growth in the RevPAR as a result of increased occupancy combined with growth in average daily rates. And yet, the dynamic that was seen until Spring 2011 slowed in the last quarter.

It is important to observe that for the 27 countries in the European Union plus Switzerland, the results of the hotel business for 2011 are positive. No country closed the year with a downturn for its reference indicator –the RevPAR1– even if there is a broad range between stagnation in Switzerland (+0.4%) and strong improvement in Poland (+9.4%). While on the one hand Switzerland is already positioned among the highest levels of performance, on the other Poland occasionally benefited from its six‐month presidency of the European Union. The European countries with the strongest hotel activity –United Kingdom, France, Germany or the Benelux– are positioned within a tighter range: between 4% and 6% growth, which better reflects the state of Europe’s marketplace.

With an average European occupancy rate higher than 66%, hotel occupancy gained 2 points over 2010, which was already in a strong recovery over the crisis of 2009. The prize goes to the international gateways, capitals and business cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Ghent, Hamburg, London, Munich, Paris and Zürich, which flirt with or surpass an OR2 of 75% across the year. With an OR close to 85% London beats all records, and is close to saturation. At the bottom of the table, Spanish cities (Saragossa, Seville) and Italian ones (Bologna) reflect the difficulty of the national markets. Even cities with highly seasonal business that depends on exhibitions and fairs (Cannes and Hanover) progressed in 2011. The rare drops in occupancy with respect to 2010 are minimal, largely less than 1 point.

This strong demand justified a significant improvement in the average daily rate (for many cities around 4% and more), an indicator of the shift of the vast majority of European cities into the upper part of the hotel cycle. Only a few German cities (Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg), Italian cities (Florence, Turin) and Spanish ones (Bilbao, Madrid, Saragossa) activated the rate dynamic to boost or relaunch demand.

The question mark bears on the prolongation of the slump observed in year‐end business. The degradation of national economies, the concern about the impact of debt, and austerity measures have an evident effect on the average slump observed in Europe where the OR and ADR3 fell into the red last December. Past experience taught that the midscale and upscale segments reacted more visibly to the change in economic climate. In cities where the weight of these categories is preponderant (Central Europe, Scandinavian countries, Spain and Italy…), the stabilizing effect of the economy hotel segment was impotent.

1 RevPAR: Occupancy rate x average price or room revenue divided by available rooms
2 OR: Occupancy Rate – number of sold rooms divided by number of available rooms
3 ADR: Average Daily Rate – room revenue divided by number of sold rooms

ECM (European Cities Marketing) is the leading European association of city tourism offices and convention bureaux, representing 125 members across 100 major cities in 32 countries. Its aim is to improve the performance and maintain the competitiveness of its members through the exchange of best practice and information.      
For more information and pictures, please contact:
Marie Kuklova, press@europeancitiesmarketing.com, +33 380 56 59 51
Established over 25 years ago, MKG Group® has built a solid reputation for business expertise and substantial European-based know-how in the tourism, hotel and hospitality sector. MKG provides a unique savoir-faire in market research, consulting, financial feasibility studies, individual property and portfolio asset valuations, as well as quality control campaigns. The foundation of knowledge and resource is HotelCompSet, the largest industry database in Europe, representing all hotel segments.


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