Further evidence has been revealed to suggest that London hotels are recovering quicker from the recession than hotels outside the capital.

A report on the UK's hospitality industry, published by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), shows that hotels in London have recorded five consecutive months of occupancy growth (September 2009 to January 2010) with occupancy in the final quarter of 2009 reaching 82.5 per cent.

Over the course of 2010, PwC predicts that on average, hotel operators in London should see RevPAR increase by 5.8 per cent with a further 7.8 per cent growth in 2011.

Robert Milburn, PwC's director for UK hospitality and leisure, added that the growth spurt should provide hoteliers with sufficient volume to push up room rates by around 3.5 per cent this year, to give an average rate of nearly £120.

he said: "Growth in the UK hotel industry reflects the Capital's resilience to the recession. We think the worst is over and London looks set to build on its flourish in late 2009.

"Visibility is limited but reports of higher levels of transient visitors, more group conference bookings and a return of the business traveller (albeit slow) are all positive - especially for London."

Operators outside the capital, however, are still struggling, with the provinces experiencing similar lows to those of 1991-1992 when the UK came out of the ERM and interest rates hit 15 per cent.

Provincial hotels are heavily dependent on dwindling domestic corporate and leisure demand, and remain under pressure to attract new markets.

Liz Hall, PwC's head of hotels research, said: "Occupancies should start to stabilise in early 2010 following 11 quarters of decline and room rates are forecast to start recovering from Q2 this year.

"Growth will be slow but it's not all bad news with some regional centres will buck the trend."

Hall predicts that overall the provinces could see 1.6 per cent RevPAR growth in 2010 with a more solid recovery of 3.1 per cent in 2011.