Hotels across the UK enjoyed increased visitor numbers off the back of the Brexit vote, according to the latest data from the Expedia group.
The findings drawn from Q3 2016* (July, August, September) show that, unsurprisingly, London continues to be the top destination for travellers, but other top regional cities across the UK also experienced double digit growth in demand.
The regional powerhouses of Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds all recorded a year-on-year increase in travel demand of more than 20%, with the seaside resorts of Bournemouth (+25%) and Brighton (+20%) also seeing a healthy upturn. The Scottish cities of Glasgow (+25%) and Edinburgh (+16%) also recorded strong growth.
In terms of overseas visitors, the Q3 data reveals demand from India was up by more than one third, with visitors from Ireland recording a similar increase. Travellers from Spain and Hong Kong rose by nearly 30% with visitors from Canada growing by almost 25%. The US was the top producing market, followed by Canada, Germany, Australia and Sweden.
The data also shows that the average daily rate (ADR) for hotel rooms in the UK stood at £113, a slight rise of +1.6% on the previous year. Hotels in the majority of cities across the UK experienced an uplift in ADR, with the biggest increases coming from hotels in Liverpool, Belfast, Bournemouth and Manchester.
Visitors from the US spent the most (150GBP), more than 1.5x domestic travellers. These travellers are more likely to have bigger budgets and – coupled with a favourable foreign exchange rate – spend more on their trip.
Booking windows were especially high from Oceania (74 days on average from both Australia and New Zealand) followed by Germany (65 days) and Canada (60 days).
Julie Cheneau, Expedia’s director of market management for the UK & Ireland, said: “Overall our hotel partners enjoyed a strong quarter with those across a number of regional cities and seaside destinations enjoying impressive growth compared to the same period last year.
“Demand from certain key international markets spiked following the Brexit result, likely due to a range of factors including a weaker pound but also because the UK summertime is popular with international guests. Our data reveals that we are successfully working with our hotel partners to increase demand from key international markets where visitors are more likely to spend more on rooms and other services as well as stay longer.”