Dec. 06, 2011--London hoteliers fared well this year and should also outstrip the provinces next year thanks to the Olympics, Queen's Diamond Jubilee and Farnborough Air Show, PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants said today.

But London should brace itself for a post-Olympics hangover, PwC warned, if visitor numbers to the capital do not pick up sharply again once the Games have finished.

Robert Milburn, hospitality and leisure leader at PwC, said: "London will not be immune from these tougher times. With negative revenue per room growth forecast in all but the third quarter of 2012 and a post-Olympics hangover in 2013, it may be time to implement plan B in preparation for a prolonged period of low, erratic demand."

Milburn said: "The regions have traditionally been more sensitive to changes in the UK economy than London, which is influenced more by international factors. With the Office for Budget Responsibility now forecasting only half the economic growth in 2012 that it envisaged early this year, we expect significantly lower hotel revenue growth as a result." In terms of the scale of the reduction, a "rule of thumb" analysis by PwC suggests that for every one percentage point fall in GDP, regional occupancy rates could also fall by about 1 percent.

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(c)2011 the London Evening Standard

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