Hotels in Bucharest registered the fastest growth in their occupancy rates in the first six months of this year, leaving behind cities such as London, Moscow and Istanbul.
Overall, Bucharest is above the European average and also ranks fourth in terms of the occupancy rates registered among the most important cities in Europe.
The hotels in the Capital reached an occupancy rate of 74.6% in the first half, an increase of 13.1% against the same time last year, thus exceeding the European average of 67.1%.
London (UK), Zurich (Switzerland) and Istanbul (Turkey) are the only cities ahead of Bucharest in the overall occupancy rate ranking, according to the Hotel Benchmark survey conducted by Deloitte.
"The impact of the accession to the European Union, along with the expansion operations foreign companies are carrying out in Romania, has led to an increase in the occupancy rate in the Capital. I don't think we will see any major changes in the occupancy rate by the end of the year. The same trend of market stabilisation is expected to be maintained in 2008, especially because new hotels will open," stated Kurt Strohmayer, general manager of the JW Marriott Hotel, the biggest five-star hotel in Bucharest. He added that a challenge for the domestic hotel industry was the ability to attract weekend bookings.
The top hotels in the survey conducted by Deloitte are hotels in London, with occupancy rates of 80.5%. Next are hotels in Zurich and Istanbul, with occupancy rates of 76.1% and 75% respectively. One of the biggest challenges faced by Romanian hotels is the lack of weekend tourists, as 90% of revenues are derived from business travel.
At present, there are six five-star hotels operating on the Bucharest market. The biggest and most expensive of them being JW Marriott. In total, the six hotels boast more than 1,600 rooms.
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