OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 1.00pm.
A NEW survey of the hotel industry shows that hotel occupancy rates declined throughout South Africa last year, with only Mpumalanga showing a growth of 2,7%.
The South African edition of the annual Arthur Andersen Hotel Industry Benchmark Survey covers 185 hotels nationwide.
Hardest hit were the three-star hotels with declines of seven percent.
Hotel occupancy in the Western Cape was down 4,7% for the year ending December 1999, with Gauteng 3,9% lower.
The survey said increased room rates for the period leading up to millennium celebrations could have contributed to the drop.
KwaZulu-Natal’s rates went up by 17% over that period, while those in the Western Cape and Gauteng increased by 15% and eight percent. The biggest room rate increases occurred in three and four-star hotels, of 11,7% and 16,8% respectively.
It said the priciest destination last year was the Western Cape, with average room rates of R342 per night, compared with R283 in KwaZulu-Natal and R307 in Gauteng.