European cities continue to lead global hotel performance in terms of revenue per available room (revPAR), taking 12 of the top 20 places in the Deloitte Global Ranking Index (GRI).  Dublin, which secured 16th position in 2006, has fallen nine places to 25th in the 2007 ranking as a result of increased global competition. The GRI, a report produced annually by Deloitte using data from the STR Global HotelBenchmark™ Survey, shows that the growth of tourism in other world regions could see other European cities challenged for the top spots next year.

Despite falling out of the top 20 revPAR GRI, Dublin’s hotel performance in the past year has remained steady. The city achieved a revPAR of €103 (US$142), up 6.7% on last year and an Average Daily Rate (ADR) of €135 (US$186), up 10.2% on last year.

Mary Gara, Director, Consumer Business Group, Deloitte said: “Dublin’s performance in 2007 was certainly consistent, particularly when considering the positive impact the Ryder Cup would have had on the 2006 figures. This event contributed €128 million to the Kildare and Dublin regions – and in this context Dublin has remained competitive as a tourist destination.”

“That said, the fact that Dublin has fallen down the ranking despite this steady performance is indicative that there are challenges for the tourism industry in Ireland in general. The GRI shows that there is increasing competition from other global destinations.  The emphasis now must be on providing quality service and marketing Ireland as a top class tourist destination that is able to compete with these other destinations.”

Europe did prove popular as a destination with more than 50% of the world’s travellers choosing a city in this region as their preferred destination in 2007, according to the World Tourism Organisation. This led to an overall revPAR increase of 15.8% to US$114 in Europe – the highest absolute revPAR in the world. Venice held onto first position in the revPAR GRI for the fifth consecutive year, with revPAR rising 22% to US$265.

The report, which also ranks the top 20 cities in terms of occupancy shows that Dublin fell to 37th place, from 18th position last year with a figure of 76.2% (down 3.2%). In this year’s occupancy GRI, Belfast made its debut securing 15th place.  The city is enjoying a re-birth as a safe destination after decades of political unrest, and is now attracting many people on weekend breaks as well as business travellers.
  
The report shows that challenging Europe as a destination, the Middle East grew 16.9% to US$108 in 2007 – exceeding growth in both Europe and Asia for the fourth consecutive year. It is therefore not surprising that four Middle Eastern cities featured in the top 20 revPAR GRI including Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Muscat. 

Across Central and South America, revPAR increased 19.4% to US$74 in 2007 – which meant it is the world’s fastest growing region in terms of revPAR growth. Panama City, with occupancy rates of 84.7%, has become the first Latin American city to make it onto the occupancy GRI, the second highest occupancy of any city in the world. The city also achieved the strongest revPAR growth in Central and South America – up 37.9% to US$121.

Looking ahead to 2008, Mary Gara said: “The outlook for the global hotel industry is promising. 2008 will see a number of sporting events across the globe, attracting large numbers of travellers, particularly the Beijing Olympics. The tourist industry in Dublin and indeed all of Ireland now needs to address the changing global tourism climate and ready itself to take advantages of the opportunities that arise – the London 2012 Olympics being front of mind as a significant opportunity for Dublin. There is certainly scope for Ireland to grow its position in this increasingly competitive global marketplace.”

-- Ends --

Notes to editor:

This is the fifth edition of the Global Ranking Index which compares the performance on 165 cities outside North America.

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