European tourists booked 1.1 percent fewer rooms in the U.S. in the beginning five months of 2012 compared to the same time last year, according to a new report.
Pegasus Solutions Inc., a company processes bookings for nearly 100,000 hotels globally, said the largest declines in U.S. bookings have come from European countries that are dealing with national debt and currency troubles.
Greeks booked 41.3 percent fewer U.S. rooms so far this year, Spaniards 15.5 percent fewer and Italians 3.6 percent.
Meanwhile, European countries that are doing better economically had a higher percentage of room rentals in the U.S. Travelers from the U.K. booked 2.6 percent more rooms so far this year than a year ago, according to Pegasus. Likewise, U.S. bookings by French travelers are up 8.1 percent and Belgians up 13.1 percent. The exception is Germans, who booked 8.9 percent fewer U.S. rooms this year.
U.S. hotels seem to remain unaffected by the drop off or Europeans as they only count between 5 and 10 percent of all U.S. bookings. Chinese bookings of U.S. hotels are up 2.2 percent so far this year, and Mexican bookings up 8.7 percent, according to Pegasus.
"That has largely offset the weakness that we've seen coming out of Europe," said Ed Walter, president and chief executive of Host Hotels & Resorts, owner of 104 hotels globally.
Data reported in The Pegasus View comes from billions of transactions processed monthly by Pegasus Solutions facilitating more than $16 billion a year in hotel transactions.
It reflects data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively for nearly 100,000 hotels worldwide.
