Aberdeen’s hotel revenue dropped by more than 40% in the month of March, according to new figures.
Accountants and business advisers BDO LLP said Glasgow and Edinburgh continued to boost their figures as the Granite City continues to face the continued challenges from the oil price decline.
Occupancy in Aberdeen also dropped by 17.1% but grew in comparison by 3.4% in Edinburgh and 2.0% in Glasgow.
Scotland was the only part of the UK which saw an overall revenue drop of 4.0% which was in part due to the large decrease in Aberdeen’s performance, according to the firm.
Alastair Rae, head of BDO’s Audit Practice in Scotland, said: “The hospitality sector in Edinburgh and Glasgow had an excellent March with considerable revenue increases in both cities. The early Easter and the Six Nations rugby helped Edinburgh increase revenues from leisure activities while Glasgow benefited from a number of concerts and events during the month. For Inverness the month was a steady as she goes period with little change in occupancy or revenue.
“For Aberdeen’s hospitality sector the situation remains very difficult. The considerable drop in revenue remains quite stark and is obviously linked to the double digit decline in occupancy. Although Aberdeen’s revenue is falling from a very high figure a 43.0% drop in year on year numbers is a concern.
“Hoteliers need to watch their costs and manage their businesses very carefully in the coming year as the downward pressure on revenue is intense and is unlikely to recover to recent levels any time soon.
“The hospitality sector as a whole is very susceptible to negative feelings or uncertain perceptions and the economy has been jittery since the start of the year.
“The EU referendum is part of this but equally there are signs that businesses and consumers are concerned that we are not exiting the downturn as rapidly as expected and it may be some time before the UK economy feels positive once more.”
Recommended for you
