A new forecast by PKF Hospitality Research provides another reminder that U.S. travel continues to rebound despite tepid economic indicators. On an average night in 2012, nearly 3 million of the U.S’s 4.8 million hotel rooms will be occupied, according to PKF. That's almost 6 percent greater than the levels of lodging demand accommodated in 2007, the prior peak in the year before the great recession.
A dozen of the Top 50 markets that PKF tracks, however, still are renting fewer rooms than they did in 2007. Of those markets, PKF says the worst-off are Tucson; West Palm Beach, Fla. and Atlanta.
Generally speaking though, the positive news about growing demand bucks "all apparent economic trends," said R. Mark Woodworth, president of PKF-HR, in a press release.
Still, a dozen of the top hotel markets still lag, meaning that they are still renting fewer rooms than they did prior to the recession, he said.
Courtesy of USA Today
