London, Amsterdam and Prague will see Europe’s highest hotel average occupancy rates in 2018, according to PwC.
The auditor’s seventh Euro Cities Hotel Forecast says a strengthening eurozone economy and strong demand from international tourists will boost the European hotel sector this year.
London and Amsterdam hotels are forecast to have the highest occupancies of 82% in 2018 despite major supply additions. Prague (81%) is close behind with Lisbon (78%), Berlin (77%) and Porto (77%). Prague’s occupancy is set to match London’s in 2019, the research says.
PwC says Europe welcomed 671 million overnight visitors in 2017, with international tourism arrivals delivering 8% year-on-year growth.
Measured by revenue per available room (RevPar), Porto tops the city growth table in 2018 with 10.3% growth forecast, possibly owing to the boom in budget flights. Amsterdam is set to grow RevPar 7.1%, but London by only 0.6%.
Liz Hall, PwC head of hospitality and leisure research, said: “Continuing global and regional economic recovery should continue to support strong leisure and business demand for travel and hotels.”