Dubai: The three weeks of London 2012 Summer Olympics (July 27-August 12) will see hotel prices go up by as much as 40 per cent, according to industry experts.
The online travel (hotels and flights) booking website Cleartrip.ae is already experiencing an average 35-40 per cent increase in London hotel tariffs during the period compared to the same period last year, according to Tareq Khatri, Cleartrip's Senior Vice-President of Business Development.
He said that London is the company's top selling destination from the Middle East this year, especially because of the Olympics.
According to Kulwant Singh, Managing Director of Lama Desert Tourism, room rates will increase by up to 30 per cent during the Games.
"Hotel room rates in London have gone up quite a bit ahead of the Games. They are already up 10-15 per cent and they will go up to as much as 25-30 per cent closer to the Games," said Singh, adding that the Dubai-based tour company is already feeling the "scarcity of rooms".
"We are thus trying to make sure that we have some room inventory for the Games weeks," he said. Lama Tourism is expecting around 2,000 to 2,500 people to travel to London from this region during the Olympics.
Ramadan
"Our average summer traffic to London and Europe is around 1,000 to 1,500 people," said Singh, who believes that the Olympics period coinciding with Ramadan will not affect London traffic from the Middle East.
Meanwhile, according to the latest study from hotel research company TravelClick, as reported by the British media, hotel prices this summer are up 65 per cent on average over last year's prices even though occupancy levels still have room to grow.
Some hotels, however, such as the Hilton Worldwide, do not intend to increase room rates significantly.
As Hilton gears up for a lucrative three weeks of London Games, the company says rates will not be inflated much during the period.
"For those three weeks we won't have a lot of availability in our hotels across London but [we will] also not have hugely inflated room rates. They would be fairly normal," John Rogers, Hilton Worldwide's vice-president of Operations for UK and Ireland, recently told Gulf News, adding that the rates being offered are based on inflation over previous years.
Post Games
The hotel company is luring Middle East travellers for the periods before and after the Games.
"What we think is we will see people coming before and after the Games to see London at its best," said Rogers. "It would be great to come to London post the Ramadan period."
It is not just the hotels; air travel to London, is also on a strong rise. Cleartrip is experiencing a huge surge in air fares from this region to London during the Olympics period, according to Khatri.
"The air fares to London this summer are already up an average 15 per cent on last year summer. And we expect them to go up another 30 per cent closer to the Games," he told Gulf News. He said that Royal Brunei Airline is currently offering the cheapest fare to London from here, followed by British Airways, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Qatar Airways.
