Scottish hotel sector 'outperforming' rest of UK
Scotland's hotel sector is "outperforming" the rest of the UK, based on the latest figures released by industry analysts.
Business advice firm PFK said that year-on-year occupancy levels rose by 1.5% during the month of February.
In England occupancy levels were down 1.7% and fell by 4.8% in Wales.
Aberdeen saw the largest increase in visitors to its hotels, with a 8.1% rise. The high oil price is thought to have contributed to the boom.
Rooms yield, the industry measure of revenue, was also up by 2.8% in Scotland.
The budget sector continues to be hardest hit with both occupancy and rooms yield falling for rooms priced below £50.
Alastair Rae, from PKF, said: "It was another positive month for the Scottish hotel sector, outperforming the rest of the UK with increases in both occupancy and rooms yield.
"Whilst it is always risky to ascribe too much to a single month's figures there are signs that this year may see a marked improvement in the performance of the sector in Scotland."
Mr Rae said Aberdeen's strong performance was "business driven", rather than the leisure market.
Glasgow saw occupancy rise by 0.8% and rooms yield increase by 0.9% while occupancy in Edinburgh fell 0.4% but revenue increased by 2.6%.
Mr Rae added: "The outlook for 2011 remains relatively good despite the rather choppy economic waters which the country is currently going through.
"GDP may be up and down, and retail figures may be equally uncertain but the hospitality sector appears to riding the storm better than expected."