New hotel figures from across the Liverpool City Region show they are continuing to go in the right direction.
Last year Liverpool city centre saw the 77% occupancy rate maintained from 2015. The 2016 average weekend occupancy stood steadily at 88%, comparable with 2015, which was also reflected in average weekday occupancy remaining steady at last 75% across both years.
The average hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the city centre was £56.16, an increase of approximately £3 since 2015, with the weekend average at £82.68, an increase of approximately £4 since 2015.
Statistics for December also show that hotel occupancy in the city was up 7% on the previous year.
However, across the wider city region as a whole, room occupancy has increased by 2% since 2015, to 78%. Average weekend occupancy increased by 2% to 87% overall for 2016, whilst weekday occupancy rose by 2% from 76% to 78%.
These are just some of the figures provided by North West Research & Strategy – the team at the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, who collate a wide range of key tourism statistics.
Other key facts include:
- Tourism was worth more than £4bn a year to the Liverpool city region in 2015 – a 7% increase on the previous year’s figure of £3.8bn and for Liverpool alone that figure soared 8% from £2.53bn to £2.72bn over the same period.
- In the last year, the city region welcomed 56.5m day visitors during the year with the number of staying visitors breaking through the 5m barrier.
- The visitor economy also provides a jobs boost with the sector now supporting more than 50,000 jobs across Merseyside – a rise of 4%.
Steve Sherlock, Research & Business Development Manager at North West Research & Strategy said:
“The growth in hotel occupancy we have seen across the city region in 2016 continues to illustrate our attractiveness to staying visitors. With the recent decline in the value of sterling against the Euro and the dollar, more and more people are considering domestic breaks as an option that offers greater value for money whilst seeking a broad range of activities and events.
“The breadth of the LCR’s visitor offer, aligned to promotions such as Liverpool’s One Magical City programme in December, continue to demonstrate our success and bode well for future growth”.
Chris Brown, Director of Marketing Liverpool, said: “December is usually a very challenging month for hoteliers, so it is a good barometer of how well a destination is performing. To have made such marked progress in every category is massively encouraging.
“There are several factors to the growth, including One Magical City bringing many more visitors than ever before and large events at the theatres and Echo Arena. I also think it’s worth acknowledging that Liverpool is increasingly seen as an attractive city break destination for those in the UK, especially over periods when people have time off work.”