Late booking rush predicted for Olympics
Visit Britain is being told to expect a rush of late bookers for the London Olympics as it becomes increasingly evident that there will be hotel rooms available during the Games.
Visit Britain’s director of overseas networks, Keith Beecham, speaking in Bangkok to an audience of Asian travel buyers, said 21,000 new rooms were coming on line in the UK in 2012, some 9000 of them in London.
"London is used to coping with big numbers (of tourists) and we’re confident there will be enough rooms for everyone," he said.
Despite a strong start to the year (visitor numbers to the UK rose 4% in the January-March 2012 quarter) Visit Britain is expecting full year international visitor arrivals to be flat.
"Given economic conditions, if we come in with the same figure as 2011 it won’t be a bad result," Beecham said.
"Operators are telling us there will be a strong late booking pattern this year and it could be that those markets that wait the longest before booking will find some interesting hotel prices."
By Ian Jarrett, reporting from Destination Britain and Ireland in Bangkok
Ian Jarrett
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