Europe's hotel industry has been battered by the effects of war, SARS and resulting falls in US travellers to the continent, but the outlook for hoteliers is finally brightening. Deloitte's HotelBenchmark survey shows that revenue per available room (revPAR), the hotel industry's key performance measure, rose 10% in March to reach EUD67 (￡44). The rise in room yields was largely the result of increased bookings. Occupancies averaged 65% in March,a rise of 8.3% on last year. Average room rates moved less, increasing by EUD2 to EUD103. While the improvement is certainly cause for encouragement, the sentiment among hoteliers is likely to be more one of relief than celebration. It would have been hard for hotel performance to deteriorate much further after the unprecedented series of setbacks it faced in 2003. Indeed, some of this year's best performing hotel markets are those that fared worst last year. Unsurprisingly, Eilat, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, have all experienced revPAR growth in excess of 30% during the first quarter of 2004 although actual revPAR levels are still low.
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