(Reuters) - Occupancy at hotels in London plunged 21% and revenue per available room almost 28% in the first eight days of March as the coronavirus pandemic spread to Europe, data from travel industry data specialist STR showed on Monday.
Average daily rate was also down 8.5% in the beginning of the month, preliminary data from the U.S.-based company, which is widely used by banking and other sector analysts, showed https://str.com/press-release/str-london-hotel-performance-drops-amid-growing-covid-19-concerns on Monday.
"As concerns have grown around the COVID-19 outbreak, STR analysts note that London daily data shows 14 consecutive days (24 February through 8 March) of decreases across the three key performance metrics," the analysts said.
The World Travel and Tourism Council said last week that the lockdowns and other travel curbs triggered by the outbreak were putting up to 50 million jobs in the tourism sector at risk, with travel likely to slump by a quarter this year.
Shares in Holiday Inn-owner InterContinental Hotels Group (L:IHG) have plunged 43%, while those in fellow London-listed operator, Premier Inn-owner Whitbread (L:WTB), are down more than 50% so far this year.