Scottish Hotels On The Mend Following Poor 2001

LONDON— There were early signs of a recovery in the first three months of 2002 as hotel occupancies hit a five-year high in Scotland, despite the number of overseas visitors to the country being down by 6% during 2001. Visitors spending had also been down by 14% in 2001, but visits from the United States were up by 2% and the amount spent by Americans rose by 8%. Visitscotland, the former Scottish Tourist Board, said this illustrated Scotland was on course for a good year until 9/11. Visitors from Europe were also up pre-9/11, by 3%, but their spending was down by 19%. This reflected the increase in short-break holidays, according to Visitscotland. Visitor numbers were also up from Ireland by 155%, and from the Netherlands by 35%. In addition, hotel occupancy figures for the first three months of 2002 gave some cause for optimism. They averaged 49% over the period, which was the highest for five years and up by 3% on the same period in 2001. Hotel occupancies in March were up by 5% on last year at 55%. SOURCE: caterer.com