Scotland: "Tourism 'bullish' amid recession"
Hostel Trends and News
"Tourism 'bullish' amid recession"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8013000/8013075.stm
Scotland's tourism boss has said the industry remains "confident and bullish" despite a drop of around 30% in corporate tourism business.
VisitScotland chief executive, Philip Riddle said, conversely the recession was also prompting more people from the UK to holiday in Scotland.
But he added the proportion of overseas visitors has fallen by up to 10%.
Mr Riddle said the decline had hit Scotland's cities hardest, but rural areas have been faring better.
And about hostels:
[bold added]
And in this uncertain financial climate, Scotland's hostels have been seeing benefits.
Louise Nowell, head of sales and marketing at the Scottish Youth Hostels Association, said: "Our advance bookings are up 7% compared to the same time last year.
"In an ordinary year I wouldn't have expected the figures to go up as they have. There's a reason for it - the economic situation.
"The exchange rate is keeping Brits at home, foreign visitors are getting more value for money, and people are becoming more value-conscious due to the credit crunch. Suddenly we're being seen as an affordable destination."
- Comments
15 years
it makes sense; i wish i had numbers for previous years i could compare to, but i can really only go back to december with all the numbers and a mish mash of stats back to august. prior to that we ran on a paper system and nobody's ever compiled the numbers.
hostelworld says we're up about 400% though... which is nice, but i doubt its particularly indicative of anything other than previous managers didnt put enough beds online.
15 years
And about hostels:
[bold added]
Full story[/QUOTE]
Obviously it's a fair assumption to make that these factors might come into play. But it's still a very big leap to say that the economic situation will benefit hostels. It might, but I'd like to know if she has any real market research. What if people, fearful of their jobs, just cancel holidays? Tourism operators always seem to want to talk things up. Not sure why.
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