Yorkshire hotels outperform the rest of the UK in busy tourist season

The proportion of hotels in Yorkshire at a higher than normal risk of insolvency has fallen for the fourth consecutive month, giving it the lowest level of risk in the sector across the UK.

According to research by insolvency trade body R3, in June, just 88 of the 488 active hotels in Yorkshire were identified as being at higher than normal risk, a fall of over 4% since the previous month.

Regionally, levels of risk in the sector have fallen every month since March with a combined decrease of 12%.

Yorkshire now boasts the smallest proportion of hotels at higher than normal risk with 18% and is only matched by London.

The worst performing of the 12 regions was the East of England at 25% and the average across the UK was 22%.

Adrian Berry, chair of R3 in Yorkshire and restructuring partner at Deloitte LLP, commented: “The region’s hotels got off to a strong start in January and have generally performed well over the last six months.

“With the economic picture looking relatively positive, travel and tourism in Yorkshire has remained buoyant, no doubt boosted by high profile sporting events such as last month’s Tour de Yorkshire which saw over a million spectators turning out to watch the race.

“Looking at other sectors, Yorkshire saw improvements in agriculture, technology and IT, as well as professional services and construction with decreases in the number of business at higher than normal risk of insolvency compared with last month.

“However, restaurants and manufacturing businesses in the region have seen rising levels of businesses at risk, and with many businesses facing higher operating and increased staff costs following the introduction of the National Living Wage and Auto Enrolment for workplace pensions, it is vital that directors keep a close eye on finances and seek professional advice at the first signs of trouble.”

R3 uses research compiled from Bureau van Dijk’s ‘Fame’ database of company information to track the number of businesses in key regional sectors that have a heightened risk of entering insolvency in the next year.