Light at the end of the tunnel

Confidence in the hospitality industry regarding ongoing business for the rest of the year seems to be returning, even though predicting which way the economy will go – and as a result how good business will be – is a tricky exercise at the best of times. And in the current economic climate, there are still plenty of pessimists about who will say that things can – and will – get worse.

But there are an increasing number of encouraging signs that the worst may, indeed, be over, and if the government and everyone else stays the course, the recession might soon come to an end. However, the recovery will be slow and long in coming.

TRI Hospitality Consulting, international hotel experts, recently conducted a survey amongst a number of hotel general managers that yielded rather positive results, with 51% of respondents being optimistic as to the direction the hospitality industry would be taking for the rest of the year, which is a 23 percentage point increase since January.

Confidence also came back regarding occupancy performance, with 43% of respondents thinking that things would get better or remain the same during this quarter compared to the same period last year; although only about 18% of respondents said that they did not foresee having to cut rates, while 19% said they would increase room revenue.

With the increased numbers of Britons staying at home and a rally in June of the number of visitors, some degree of confidence is to be expected, and the economy as a whole is showing signs of recovery. More importantly, other European countries have already been declared as being out of the recession and although the recovery will not be swift, there is hope that people will soon go back to their old habits and begin to travel on holiday again.