Business will be scorching for Yorkshire hotels this summer

Yorkshire’s tourism sector is set for a boost this summer as hotels in the region are expected to be very busy over the next coming months, and are among the strongest performers across the UK, according to the latest research by R3, the insolvency trade body.

The number of hotels that are at a higher than normal risk of insolvency in Yorkshire and the Humber fell further in June, decreasing 2% more than the previous month.

Just 93 (19.9%) out of the 467 active hotels in the region are currently at a higher than normal risk of insolvency.

This date puts Yorkshire and the Humber hotels amongst the lowest levels in the UK, with Wales at 19.4%, the only other region close to London’s figure of 18.8%.

The highest levels of risk in the hotel sector were seen in the East Midlands (27.8%), the East of England (25.4%) and the South West (24.9%). Across the UK as a whole, the level of risk among hotels was 22.2%, a fall of nearly 2% since May.

R3 uses research compiled from Bureau van Dijk’s ‘Fame’ database of company information to track the number of businesses in key regional sectors that have a heightened risk of entering insolvency in the next year.

William Ballmann, chair of R3 in Yorkshire and partner at Gateley PLC, said: “A number of recent reports have shown an upward trend in the Yorkshire hotel industry with Harrogate, Leeds and Sheffield in particular seeing a rise in occupancy levels in the first quarter of the year while tourist destinations like York have also remained strong.

“Last year’s Grand Depart, together with the successful Tour de Yorkshire in May, will certainly have helped to boost visitor rates for hotels. Not only does an improvement to the hotel sector bring add-on spend for other local businesses, but it’s also a good indicator of rising confidence with consumers feeling they have more money in their pockets as the economy continues to improve.”

Several other sectors are performing strongly in the region, with manufacturing seeing the lowest number of businesses at risk across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland at just 20.4%. Yorkshire was also among the best performers in the transport and haulage and retail sectors although distress among pubs was highest in the region.