European hospitality industry keeps growing, with France, Benelux, and Portugal being the biggest donators to that growth. This information is stated in the latest report prepared by ECM. Within the first 9 months of 2018, European destinations enjoyed the growth of the revenue per available room (RevPAR) by 3.9%. The occupancy rate added 0.9%, and the average daily rate (ADR) added even more 2.6%. Among all segments, midscale and upscale/upper upscale hotels showed the biggest growth. Their RevPAR increased by 4.5% and 3.4% respectively.
Among all European countries, France, Benelux, and Portugal posted the strongest growth. Belgium hotels had their RevPAR grow by 8.3% in the first 9 months of 2018. The Netherlands posted a similar result of +8%. Brussels hotels had a particularly strong first half of 2018. Their RevPAR rose by 11.3%. This has become possible mostly because of a strong occupancy (+4.6%). Hotels in Ghent also had powerful 9 months of the year with the growth of 6.1%.
Luxembourg hotels posted weaker results with the growth of RevPAR reaching only 1.6%. Amsterdam, which hosted a number of international business events, performed better RevPAR of hotels in Amsterdam added 7.2%. It also has the third highest occupancy among Benelux cities. The hospitality industry of France enjoyed strong growth during the first 9 months of 2018 as well. It remains a popular tourist destination. That is particularly true about Paris hotels that added 3.5% to their occupancy and boosted RevPAR by 11%. Other popular destination in France posted weaker but still positive results. RevPAR of hotels in Nice, Cannes, and Montpellier added 9.5%, 7%, and 5.6% respectively. Some destinations like Toulouse, Biarritz, and Marseille had negative results.
What about other countries in the region? When it comes to cities with the best occupancy, the UK is an obvious leader. Edinburgh and London are the first and second most occupied cities in Europe. Liverpool is rank 9. That said, the RevPAR of hotels in the United Kingdom is almost flat (+1.2%). In Germany, cities like Nuremberg, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Dresden post growing RevPAR while Dusseldorf, Cologne, Leipzig, and Hamburg have to cope with declines.
On the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal is the definite leader. Its RevPAR has added 4.3% since the start of the year. Among the biggest gainers, there are such cities as Zaragoza, Bilbao, and Valencia. Lisbon hotels reached the growth of RevPAR of 1.8% mostly thanks to a number of international events.