Jane Jackson, partner at PKF Liverpool, commented: “It’s clear to see that Liverpool is booming, with hoteliers in the city bucking the national economic trend.
“The positive figures are no surprise as I believe we are continuing to see these robust figures because of Liverpool’s status as European Capital of Culture for 2008.
“The figures for May are the first true indicator for the market thus far in 2008 because the figures for March and April were affected by the different Easter holiday dates between 2007 and 2008. The May figures for Liverpool are therefore very promising and show the city’s hotels are faring well.”
Another report, published by Deloitte yesterday, shows city occupancy levels up 6.8% despite a slowdown in hotel performance across the rest of the UK.
Sean Beech, partner at Deloitte in Liverpool, said: “I’m sure that Phil Redmond and his organising team will be delighted to hear that Liverpool is reaping the benefits of the Capital of Culture tag. Liver- pool is well placed to withstand the worst effects of the credit crunch.”
The sector also received a further boost at the weekend thanks to 201,000 visitors to the Open Golf Championships at Royal Birkdale. Property advisory DTZ’s director John Adlen said: “Much of the success of events like The Open and the Tall Ships Race can be attributed to the massive improvement in the city’s hotel offer over the last few years.”
At the Radisson hotel, occupancy levels are up 8% in the first half with room revenue jumping 16%.
Ben Ford, director of sales, said: “Radisson SAS Hotel Liverpool has definitely seen a boost in the number of guests since the beginning of ‘08. Our figures show people from outside the city are engaging particularly enthusias-tically in 08 and that is fantastic for the city’s tourism sector as a whole, especially as there has been in increase in what are tradition-ally quieter periods of the year.
“We anticipated an increase in demand when Liverpool ONE opened and it arrived, plus events such as the Open golf tournament, the John Moores prize and the Biennial have meant that we are fully booked months in advance.”
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