Briefing: UK and Europe expect growth in 2015

A new forecast from PwC suggests that in 2015 the UK could see a 1.6% increase in hotel occupancy (to 78%), a 5.6% gain in RevPAR, and a stabilisation of GDP growth to 2.5%. In wider Europe, 17 out of the 20 cities in PwC’s European Cities Hotel Forecast 2015 and 2016 are expected to enjoy RevPAR growth close to or in excess of 2%.

According to the UK Hotels Forecast 2015 the number of hotel rooms in London will increase 5.3% in 2015, and with the current UK housing shortfall, hospitality is not the only market set for development. The UK real estate market in general has a positive outlook, as reported in the FT advisor, having seen 19.3% returns in 2014, the best since 1988.

In these videos four experts discuss the hospitality and real estate markets in the UK:

In Europe; Dublin, Madrid and London are set to have the highest RevPAR growth at 8.8%, 5.6% and 4.6% respectively. However no significant new supply is expected in Dublin in 2015. Room supply in London stood at 135,000 in 2014 and 7,200 more rooms are expected this year. The London Olympics in 2012 encouraged tourism to the capital city. In 2015 PwC predict that the Rugby World Cup will once again drive demand up in the UK. The forecast also predicts that UK regional rooms supply will increase by 1.7% in 2015, adding 9,000 rooms to the 2014 total of 464,200.

Hoteliers in the UK are recognising this positivity and feeling confident, according to the Hotelier Confidence Index from TripAdvisor. 77% of hoteliers are optimistic about profitability and 48% expect room rates to increase. According to the report UK hoteliers’ highest investment priorities are small scale renovations and online reputation management.

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Video clips produced by yBC for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

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