Great Month For Glasgow Hotels

30 September 2014, 05:00

It's been a bumper summer for Glasgow hotels.

 
Loads of major events and conference business, including the city's delivery of the largest multi-sport event ever in Scotland, the Commonwealth Games, helped drive average occupancy to 91.6% last month, according to the LJ Forecaster report.

Across the 11 nights of the Commonwealth Games (July 23 to August 3), Glasgow's hotels achieved average occupancy of 95.3% which was an 11.2% increase on the same period in 2013.
 
The report analysed data collected from 25 hotels last month, representing nearly 4,000 rooms in the city centre.
 
Alongside the Commonwealth Games, key drivers of visitor volume during August included the Merchant City Festival, Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band Championships, the UDO World Street Dance Championships, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Tour at the SSE Hydro and the International Bible Students Association (IBSA) conference at the SECC.
 
The Merchant City Festival drew record-breaking crowds of more than 215,000 to Glasgow's cultural quarter while 8,000 delegates from around the world attended the IBSA convention. In particular, during Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band Championships, from August 11-16, hotel occupancy was never less than 97% and reached 99% on three nights.
 
Sean Morgan, Managing Director at LJ Research, said: "The upward trend seen in the Glasgow hotel market was again apparent in August and highlights a significant transformation taking place in Scotland's largest city. Looking at our LJ Forecaster forward bookings there are no signs of any slowdown in demand or tapering of appetite to stay in the city. Among other things, the Ryder Cup, secured conference business and leisure events at the SSE Hydro will continue to generate new guests for Glasgow hotels."
 
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: "August was a mega month for Glasgow. As the Commonwealth Games came to an end the buzz generated by the Games continued as we welcomed a diverse mix of colourful events to the city - everything from Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band Championships, which featured some 8,000 pipers and bandsmen from around the world, to the UDO World Street Dance Championships and 3,000 talented street dancers from more than 30 countries.
 
"Glasgow City Marketing Bureau also delivered a high-profile joint marketing and TV advertising campaign with Glasgow 2014 across the UK encouraging ticket-holders to really make the most of their time in the city by extending their stay both pre and post Games and that has also had an impact on last month's occupancy performance."