TORONTO RISES IN NORTH AMERICAN TOURISM RANKINGS

TORONTO, Jan. 27 2010 (Hospitality Business NewS) It was a record year for tourism in Toronto as the number of hotel room nights sold reached over 8.93 million. Toronto moved up to sixth place in hotel occupancy among top North American cities from 10^th a year ago. Tourism Toronto's newly released tourism estimates for 2010 show a significant rebound from the prior year and important growth in key international markets.

"The momentum from 2010 shows the resilience and growing popularity of our destination," said David Whitaker, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto. "In addition, we've been working to complement our existing core business by increasing our visitors, be they meetings delegates or international travellers."
Hotel occupancy across the Toronto region increased to 68.3 per cent up 9.7 per cent over the prior year, giving Toronto the fifth highest growth rate and the sixth highest total occupancy rate.

In 2010, Toronto welcomed 10 million overnight visitors. Visitor spending, including same day trips, totalled $4.5 billion in the Toronto region across a range of businesses and activities.

"More guests checking into hotels translates into more jobs being supported and created - not only in our hotels but also in our taxis, restaurants, shops, attractions and entertainment venues," noted Terry Mundell, President of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association.  "This is also a vivid example of the kind of growth a destination can experience while enjoying a dedicated and consistent revenue stream from industry and government partners."

Key markets
The fastest growing visitor markets to Toronto are India (26.5 per cent increase) Brazil (25.5 per cent) China (21.9 per cent), and Japan (18.3 per cent). International travellers now account for 32.8 per cent of all visitors.

The top international visitor markets for Toronto in 2010 were:

					1.	U.S.	1,970,000
					2.	U.K.	194,000
					3.	China	117,000
					4.	Germany	78,000
					5.	France	71,000
					6.	Japan	70,000
					7.	India	64,000
					8.	Brazil	42,000

In 2010 the number of U.S. visitors remained steady compared to 2009, but showed a continued shift toward high-value urban travellers. Air arrivals to Toronto from the U.S. have increased for the past nine consecutive months and grew by 7.7 per cent in 2010, while the number of people driving over the border declined by 4.2 per cent for the year.

"The world loves to come to Toronto. It's a great place - a truly international, cosmopolitan city with world-class cultural attractions, festivals and sporting events," said Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism and Culture. "With all Toronto has to offer the visitor, we know it will continue to grow and shine as a global tourism destination in 2011 and for years to come." An important indicator of a thriving tourism industry is the continuing development by well-respected hotel brands. Adding to the recent openings of the Thompson Toronto and Le Germain Maple Leaf Square are the imminent openings of luxury hotels Trump Toronto, Ritz-Carlton Toronto, Shangri-La and the new Four Seasons.

Major wins in 2010
In early 2010, Toronto's convention industry got a shot in the arm as meeting planners from across North America rated Toronto tops in several categories. Toronto was ranked number one among 46 cities in North America for "Superior Convention and Visitors Bureau / Destination Marketing Organization" and for "Superior Convention Centre Services" for Tourism Toronto and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre respectively.** "There is a new buzz about Toronto that is now translating into a renewed and growing awareness and interest in this community as a visitor and meetings destination that can deliver on our guests' expectations" said Mr. Whitaker. "Being ranked among the top destinations in North America should not only be a real source of pride - it is a testament to the significant accomplishments so many have made in building this city over the past decade."

2010 was another positive year for booking future meetings and conventions as Tourism Toronto and partners booked 564,000 future hotel room nights. The list below sets out the top meetings, by hotel room nights, booked by Tourism Toronto last year.

					Year							Group	Attendance
					2012							Shoppers Drug Mart	2,200
					2012							Assembly of First Nations	3,000
					2012							Toronto Sports Council/Ontario Summer Games	8,000
					2015							Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages	6,500
					2015							Canadian Wind Energy Association	3,000
					2016							Government Finance Officers Association	7,500
					2017							ASAE & The Centre for Association Leadership	6,500
					2017							Canadian Union of Public Employees	2,500
					2023							American Water Works Association	11,000
					2029							American Water Works Association	11,000

Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel suffers a loss of €156m

Image via Wikipedia

One of Ireland's best-known hotels, the five-star Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, made a staggering pre-tax loss of €156m in 2008 after the value of the hotel property was written down by €155m.

In spite of the writedown, the company that owns and operates the hotel, Shelbourne Hotel Holdings Ltd (SHHL), made an operating profit in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The figures show that the company recorded an operating profit of €3m in 2008, following an operating loss of €6m in 2007

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New York Tourism Hit Record High in 2010, Mayor Says

Despite the lingering effects of the recession, more people visited New York City in 2010 than in any other year, according to an estimate Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Tuesday.

Speaking in the conservatory at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Mr. Bloomberg said the city drew 48.7 million tourists last year, which puts the city back on track to reaching his goal of attracting 50 million visitors annually by next year. The estimated increase of almost 7 percent came after tourism in the city dipped to about 45.5 million visitors in 2009.

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LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The gaming industry is entering uncharted waters in 2011.

For the first time since 1989, the Strip will not witness a new hotel-casino opening nor are any new resort developments on the horizon.

The unprecedented building boom that covered parts of three decades and remade the look and image of the 4-mile-long boulevard is over.

It ended Dec. 15 with the unveiling of the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Barring an unforeseen miracle -- and a multibillion-dollar cash infusion -- neither the shell of what was to have been Echelon nor the 70 percent-complete Fontainebleau will be finished anytime soon.
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The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) said it would also focus on the implementation of a new hotel classification system, which was announced last year.
"The year 2011 is expected to outperform 2010 in terms of increasing the numbers of tourists, hotels, hotel rooms, and participation in international exhibitions and conventions, in addition to increasing awareness of Dubai abroad," said Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, a spokesman for DTCM.
Tourism directly accounts for about 19 per cent of the emirate's gross domestic product.

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A former airline CEO with a liking for expensive red wines.
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His Singo-styled consortium has already snapped up four pubs - Darlinghurst bar Kinselas, the Peakhurst Inn, Paddington's Bellevue Hotel and Manly's Steyne - with former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon and retail maestro Gerry Harvey chipping in for the latter two.

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New Brunswick Canada government looking to sell off hotel assets

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Primm hotel furnished from bankrupt Vegas casino

Dressers, chairs and night stands once destined for the Las Vegas Strip have been moved to a casino near the California-Nevada border after its owners bought the furnishings from billionaire Carl Icahn.

Furnishings sold from the shuttered Fontainebleau Las Vegas project are now in Buffalo Bill's, a casino-hotel along Interstate 15 in Primm. Even some of the carpeting intended for the Fontainebleau has been installed in the corridors of the 1,242-room hotel at Buffalo Bill's.

The furniture cost about $1.5 million, part of a nearly $3 million remodeling of Buffalo Bill's, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The casino about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas shut down last month to remodel guest rooms, add a Denny's Restaurant and introduce an energy efficiency program. It reopened Dec. 23.

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Nationwide, restaurants are expecting a 1% drop in patrons Dec. 31 compared to last year. That's about the same amount of decline in business for all of 2010, according to the NPD Group.

Todd Johnson, general manager of Lawry's the Prime Rib in Beverly Hills, said his restaurant is offering patrons a champagne toast at midnight, but no extravagant party.

"Eating out is for the most part discretionary income," Johnson said. "And discretionary income is pretty discretionary these days for many of us."

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Canada. Sales up at bars, restaurants

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Heralding its arrival as a tourism competitor for Dubai, Abu Dhabi saw a leap of 27 percent in hotel guests in November compared to the same month in 2009, with guest nights surging 42 percent to mark the emirate’s second highest performing month of the year.

The surge brought the emirate to 1,646,799 guests total for the first 11 months of the year, close to its goal of 1.65mn for all of 2010.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority reported that 169,001 guests stayed in the emirate last month, with guest nights at 544,753.

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Irish Weather results in 70% drop in Christmas week trade for hotels

HOTELS IN snow-affected parts of the country have lost up to 70 per cent of their Christmas week business, according to the Irish Hotels Federation – even though thousands of people trapped by weather booked hotel rooms in the past week.

The IHF says the ground-floor business of hotels – such as bars and restaurants – has “gone” this week and any uplift from cancelled flights and disrupted travel plans has been slight.

Christmas week is normally a bonanza for the hotel sector, with turnover up to three times that of a normal week. However, because of the big freeze, many establishments have lost out on the cash flow that normally sustained them through January, according to IHF president, Paul Gallagher.

“Ireland effectively shut down because of the weather and, as a result, business was devastated on three of the busiest weekends in the year,” he said.

Mr Gallagher acknowledged that some hotels, particularly those near airports, had picked up business because of the air travel turmoil caused by snow in Ireland and throughout northern Europe.

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Turkey’s Mardan Palace Hotel, voted one of the world’s leading luxury destinations of 2010, had its power cut after local officials said that electricity bills went unpaid.

Image by rileymoore via FlickrThe Mardan, situated in the Mediterranean town of Antalya, is currently being powered by generators, assistant manager Zeynep Fiskirma said by telephone today, declining to give further details.

Legal proceedings will be initiated to seize the hotel if bills totaling almost $3 million are not paid within three weeks, Turkish newspaper Takvim reported earlier today, citing power company AKEDAS. The electricity was cut for unpaid debts, AKEDAS General Manager Ufuk Okul said by phone. He declined to give further details, citing customer confidentiality.

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The suite named for the American actor boasts an open-air, king-size bed draped in mosquito netting, two bedrooms, artisan-painted armoires, high ceilings and lace curtains -- lavish quarters that are the jewel of Haiti's most famous hotel, which served as the setting of Graham Greene's 1965 novel The Comedians.

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