Staycation Scotland: Edinburgh leads booming hotel market as visitors flock to the city

Edinburgh is one of the leading post-pandemic hotel markets in Europe, new data shows.

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Hotel bookings have roared back with the easing of coronavirus restrictions and Edinburgh is leading the charge, according to new data from ‘SiteMinder World Hotel Index’. Second in the UK only to Brighton, Edinburgh’s hotels have bounced back from 18 months of chaos to 119.85 per cent of bookings on the same day in 2019.

As of 1pm today, the UK’s staycation boom helped Edinburgh hotels achieve significantly better recovery than some of the largest and most popular European cities. As of Tuesday August 3; Paris, Amsterdam, and Vienna all had less than 60 per cent of their 2019 bookings.

Compared to other British cities such as Glasgow (85%), Manchester (81%), Birmingham (76%), and London (65%), Edinburgh also fares exceedingly well.

Unsurprisingly, 92 per cent of hotel bookings are from within the country. Despite relying almost exclusively on its domestic market, the UK sits almost 20 percentage points above the global average - 84 per cent of 2019 bookings versus a global average of 65 per cent.

READ MORE: Vaccinated older generation could give Edinburgh a tourist boost

SiteMinder’s World Hotel Index uses a database of 35,000 hotels and over 400 hotel booking channels to gather its data.

James Bishop, Senior Director of Global Ecosystem at SiteMinder said: "Edinburgh's strong hotel booking numbers - currently 20 per cent higher than on the same date in 2019 - underline its sustained appeal as a world class city, and its resilience in overcoming a year of disruption and uncertainty. At a time when coastal and rural destinations around the world are generally performing better than densely populated major cities, Edinburgh bucks this trend, and shows other cities what can be achieved".

Bishop added: “The data from SiteMinder’s World Hotel Index illustrates the diversity and resilience of the UK as a travel destination, with cities of all kinds showing a sustained upwards trend throughout the year.”

“While challenges remain, after 18 months, recovery is now in sight for the country’s accommodation providers who should continue to be diligent about ensuring their business is in the best position to succeed now and in the future, and look to technology as a critical enabler.”

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