AHC 2023 © Simon Callaghan Photography
Business management & development
Change for the better H
otel developers, investors, owners and operators met at the Manchester Central Convention Complex on 11 and 12 September
to engage in meaningful debate to devise strategies to spearhead positive change across the industry. The two-day event saw more than 1,000 members of the hotel investor community, 15% of whom represented some of the largest and most influential equity investors and hospitality funds from the industry, discuss their optimism around the future of the industry, alongside their plans to navigate the tricky economic landscape in order to grow. Through the course of the event, a speaker line-up
including experts from inside and outside the sector (including Pig Hotels CEO Tom Ross, Michel Roux Jr and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham) indicated that despite economic challenges, the hospitality industry has demonstrated extraordinary resilience during what has been a fast-paced, demanding and complex year. Kicking off the programme of plenaries, panel
discussions and interviews under the conference’s headline ‘Adapt to thrive’ was James Pomeroy of
22
HSBC’s ‘Economist Keynote: Where is the UK Economy Headed?’
Pomeroy noted that while consumers had been
buying less, discretionary spend on services is remaining high, which is good news for the sector. “Restaurants are full, cafés are busy, gigs are sold out and hotels are booked,” he said. “If the queue stops at the coffee shop or bakery, then there’s a problem.” There were further signs of positivity within
hospitality in plenary ‘Revenge Travel or Dampening Desire: The Travel Trends Affecting Destination UK’, where David Goodger of Oxford Economics revealed that ongoing consumer spend on travel is being induced by pandemic savings, with higher earners holding a higher discretionary spend power due to being less impacted by inflationary pressures. Long-haul inbound tourism was also a hot topic on the agenda, with Goodger stating that Chinese travellers to the UK are up 11% year on year with projections of reaching pre-pandemic levels by 2025, an important driver for the UK hospitality industry to return to pre-pandemic levels of revenue.
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Hotel Management International travelled to Manchester to witness hoteliers demonstrate a positive appetite for change at the Annual Hotel Conference 2023.
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