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The Commonwealth Games and other events helped drive average hotel occupancy in Glasgow to 91.6% last month, new research shows.
The Scottish city’s hotels achieved average occupancy of 95.3% across the 11 nights of the Commonwealth Games (July 23-August 3) – an 11.2% increase on the same period in 2013.
Strong occupancy was accompanied by a sharp increase in room revenue during the games.
The industry measure of room revenue performance, known as revenue per available room (RevPAR), rose by 155% to £121.23 compared to the same 11 nights in 2013, according to the report by tourism market research specialists LJ Research.
Looking at the month as a whole, RevPAR rose by 19.4% to £72.27 compared to August 2013.
While slightly below the average level recorded last year, it is only the third time since monthly record-keeping began in 1999 that average hotel occupancy in August reached 90% or more. By comparison, occupancy recorded in August 2001 averaged just 77%.
Alongside the Commonwealth Games, key drivers of visitor numbers 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 conference.
LJ Research managing director Sean Morgan 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 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.”