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Royal weddings expected to boost inbound demand

Encouraging inbound business for UK hotels in 2017 is projected to continue this year with the help of two royal weddings.

Demand for London remained strong, up almost 20% over 2016, while Surrey increased by almost 40%, according to latest data from Expedia group.

Scotland’s Highlands and Islands, Oxford and Yorkshire, all rose by around 35% year-on-year.

Regionally, other destinations that enjoyed healthy growth included Bristol, Birmingham and Chester.

London accounted for almost 40% of the total market share last year while several other UK destinations witnessed encouraging annual growth.

Travellers from Spain (up almost 150%), Brazil (+110%) and Argentina (+105%) fuelled triple digit year-on-year growth from these markets, bolstered by strong demand from Ireland (+ 85%), Mexico (+85%), India (+70%) and Poland (+60%).

UK hoteliers also achieved another year of strong demand from the US (+40%).

Tech-savvy travellers from Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain that fuelled mobile booking growth of more than 70%.

The average daily rate (ADR) for hotel rooms in the UK rose overall, notably with travellers from India, Poland, Australia and Austria choosing to spend more on accommodation.

Travellers from the UAE, India, Poland and China booked their stays with the shortest booking window (less than 25 days), while travellers from New Zealand and Australia (65 days) booked the farthest out, followed closely by Austria (63 days), Brazil (55 days), Germany (55 days) and Canada (53 days).

The longer booking windows are beneficial to hoteliers, offering more opportunities to upsell – both prior to check-in and once they have commenced their stays.

Expedia UK and Ireland market management director Krishan Kadodwala said: “Overall our UK hotel partners enjoyed impressive growth across the board in 2017, which is hugely encouraging – the UK as a destination of choice is on the rise.

“Our data reveals that we are successfully working with our hotel partners to increase demand from key international markets where visitors are more likely to spend more on rooms and other services, as well as stay longer.”

“In 2017, hoteliers benefitted from a strong marketing campaign from VisitBritain, highlighting a range of events and activities across the nation which no doubt contributed towards a rise in visitors choosing to holiday in the UK.

“With two royal weddings set to take place this year, 2018 is certainly shaping up to be another good year for the UK market.”

Top UK destinations 2017 – according to Expedia

London
Edinburgh
Manchester
Birmingham
East Midlands
Glasgow
Yorkshire
Liverpool
West Midlands
Hampshire

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