Hotels in Scotland have reported a 5.3 per cent increase in occupancy during July, despite an overall 4 per cent decline across the UK sector, when compared with the same period last year.

According to accountancy firm PKF, hotels in Scotland and Wales have both benefited from an increase in the number of Britons opting for 'staycations' this summer as Scottish and Welsh sites saw an 8.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent increase in RevPAR respectively. Alistair Rae, a partner in the real estate and hospitality sector at PKF, said: "Increases in both occupancy and rooms yield indicate that hoteliers are not having to reduce prices to maintain numbers which is a positive sign that there is a relatively strong demand.

"Overseas visitors will have been drawn by the benign exchange rates for the euro and it would appear that destination hotels on the West Coast and North of Scotland are also drawing in the UK holidaymakers." However, the strong growth reported by individual cities including Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow failed to halt the decline in PKF's overall figures for the UK, which saw an 11.9 per cent fall in RevPAR, while London RevPAR decreased by 9.6 per cent.