2006 has been excellent year for the hotel industry, according to the year-end data from the HotelBenchmark TM Survey by Deloitte. The combination of robust economic performance, high profile international events, and the growing popularity of newly emerging tourism destinations, coupled with people’s increasing desire to travel and experience new things – have all been key in driving performance forwards.

Hoteliers across the Middle-East posted their third year of double-digit growth in revenue per available room (revPAR) at 17%. Although this was not as strong as in 2005, it is still impressive given the political unrest and terrorist attacks witnessed over the last 12 months. Hotel performance across the region continues to be driven by average room rates – which shot up 18% to reach US$143.

Hotels in Europe had a remarkable year in 2006 – with revPAR up by 11% to the US$ 97 – almost double the growth achieved in 2005. As well as improved economic conditions, Europe has also staged some of the most enticing sports spectacles from the Winter Olympics in Italy to Football World Cup in Germany. Lovers of music and art have also travelled to the region to celebrate the work of Rembrandt, Picasso and Mozart.

2006 also proved to be another year for hoteliers in Central and South America reported a 10% increase in revPAR in 2006 as average room rates soared by 9% to the US$ 118. Consequently with the hotels performing well – the level of investment in the market is on the rise with many international chains increasing their presence across the region. Cities such as Buenos Aires, Caracas and Santiago all saw increases in supply during 2006.

Asia Pacific was dealt some touch cards in 2006 – the earthquake in Yogyakarta, the terrorist attacks on Mumbai’s commuter trains and more recently a series of bomb explosions in Bangkok over the New Year celebrations. However, despite this the region has once again come up trumps with revPAR up 10%. Growth across the region is being fuelled predominately by markets in the south – in particular India which saw revPAR increase by 30%.

The outlook for the hotel market in 2007 is good, although the rate of growth is likely to slow. This is very much in line with global economic and tourism indicators, which both show performance cooling slightly this year. Also markets such as Europe simply do not have the number of high profile events taking place in 2007 as they did last year.