The recovery of the Asian hotel industry from the tsunami will face a significant set back as a result of this weeks earthquake in Indonesia, according to Marvin Rust, hospitality partner at Deloitte:

“Hotel occupancy figures had already plummeted in the period since the tsunami, with Phuket being the worst affected, with a drop in occupancy from 80 percent to 40 percent in the first two months of 2005.  However, the figures for February were substantially better than for January pointing towards a rapid recovery in hotel performance for the region before this weeks events.

“Deloitte’s HotelBenchmark Survey also shows that areas which were not affected by the tsunami, such as Penang and Bali, also struggled. This is due to tourists lack of information and understanding as to which holiday destinations were affected. We can expect that this weeks earthquake will have the same result, with tourist destinations beyond Sumatra and Indonesia also suffering as a result of a lack of understanding of the relative risks of travel to the region.

“Whilst the hotel industry has shown impressive resilience in the past, with wars on terror and SARS, the latest impact is caused by natural disaster and is therefore likely to have longer lasting affect. There will need to be a concerted effort by both Governments and media to educate the public on where it is safe to travel to encourage people to return,” adds Rust.

Ends

The HotelBenchmark Survey contains the largest independent source of hotel performance data outside of North America and tracks the performance of over 6,500 hotels and 1.2 million rooms every month. Monthly surveys are produced on the following areas:

• Four regional rate and occupancy surveys covering Asia-Pacific, Europe, Central & South America and the Middle East & Africa.
• Eleven country/sub region rate and occupancy surveys for Australia, Benelux, China, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Nordic Countries, Qatar, Southern Africa, Spain and UK.
• Two city rate and occupancy surveys for London and Paris.
• Monthly profitability surveys on Germany and London.
• On an annual basis we produce profitability surveys tracking performance across all regions of the world.

For further information or details on how to join the survey please visit us at www.HotelBenchmark.com

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is the UK's fastest growing major professional services firm based in 21 UK locations, with over 10,000 staff nationwide and fee income of £1,246 million in 2003/2004. It is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a leading professional services organisation, delivering world class audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance services, with around 120,000 people in over 140 countries. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.