UK”consumer online searches for hotels and lodgings based domestically outnumbered those located overseas by three to one in August, according to independent digital marketing agency, Greenlight.
Greenlight’s Hotels Sector Report – Issue 17, revealed that UK consumers made a total of 3.1m searches on Google UK for hotels located in domestic, short haul and long haul destinations.
Of that total, 1.8m (58%) of enquries related to hotels based domestically, compared to 12% (382,610 searches) for short-haul destinations, and just 8% (236,710 searches) for long-haul destinations.
These findings follow on from preliminary hotel figures released by business advisory and accountany firm BDO LLP in July, which indicated that a year on from the Olympics, the UK hotel sector has experienced a 6.7% year-on-year increase in occupancy from 75.3% to 80.4% in the regions, and a 10% increase from 79.2% to 87.1% in London.
The research also shows that on the domestic front, the capital accounted for 13% of online searches, with Brighton drawing 4%.