Spain has been hardest hit by the downturn in travel this year, according to the latest hotel figures.

Deloitte’s study of hotels in Europe’s leading cities found that Spain’s major hubs of Madrid and Barcelona saw revpar (revenue per available room) drop by 30.5% and 22.5% respectively for the first nine months of the year due to a downturn in tourists from key markets – particularly the UK. 

This compares with an overall revpar decline of 19.2% to €58 per room across Europe. Cities in the eurozone saw an average fall of 16.8% while non-euro destinations fared worse with an average fall of 21.9%.

Poorly performing cities in the eurozone included Dusseldorf (-33%), Dublin (-23%), Athens (-25%) and Milan (-23%), while non-euro ones included Moscow (-30.5%), Prague (-26%) and Zurich (-24%). 

Alex Kyriakidis, global managing partner of tourism hospitality and leisure at Deloitte, said: “As many consumers chose the staycation over travelling abroad, and businesses tightened purse strings on corporate travel, hotels, airlines and tour operators saw a fall in performance and sales.

"Every city reported declines in revpar, some hit more severely than others.”

London recorded the highest occupancy rate during the first nine months of the year, filling just under 80% of its rooms, although revpar dropped by 7.6%. 

Glasgow and Edinburgh were the only cities in Europe to see an increase in occupancy compared to the same period in 2008.

Marvin Rust, Deloitte’s hospitality managing partner, said: “We are already seeing signs of economic recovery across Europe and consumer confidence has started to improve.

“It will be an uphill struggle for some months before hoteliers start to post positive results, however it looks like the worst may be over.”

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Deloitte supports TTG Travel Intelligence Report 2009