GLASGOW'S hotels are the busiest of the top three main cities.

 

Marketing bosses claim the success of last summer's Commonwealth Games has continued with the city bucking a Scotland-wide trend for decreasing hotel performance.

The latest monthly LJ Forecaster Scottish Intercity Report, from tourism market research specialists LJ Research, tracking city centre hotel performance in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, shows average room rates decreased in all three.

But while room rates decreased in Glasgow's city centre, the destination bucked the falling trend.

At £68.91, average room rates decreased 0.5% year-on-year, at a much slower rate compared to other cities.

Occupancy, however, rose 5.7% to reach 82.0% - the highest occupancy achieved among Scotland's three key cities and the highest March occupancy ever achieved in the city.

Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: "The 12 days of the Commonwealth Games have translated into 15 consecutive months of growth in Glasgow with some of the highest occupancy rates on record in the city.

"This is the legacy of the Games, which will be felt in Glasgow for the next decade.

"Our research shows that occupancy in Glasgow last month was the strongest of any major city in the UK and Europe."

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) believes March's visitor influx is due to events and conferences that took place in the city throughout the month.

These include the Annual Congress of the European Atherosclerosis Society and the Scottish National Party's spring convention, which collectively brought more than 4,000 delegates to Glasgow.

Disney on Ice and Premier League Darts at the SSE Hydro as well as performances by Usher, Paloma Faith, Lionel Ritchie, Noel Gallagher and Morrissey, and the Scottish League Cup Final between Celtic and Dundee United at Hampden all helped to boost occupancy in the city.