Revenues of Azerbaijani hotels grow at record low usage

In 2013, investment in the hotel business continued to grow, and the impact on their financial performance.

According to the State Statistics Committee, last year the number of hotel enterprises increased from 514 to 530 . Single occupancy in 16 new hotels was 1,177 accommodations. As of January 1, 2014 the hotel enterprises have 16,559 rooms that can accommodate about 34,000 people. The share of the Baku city accounted for 31 % of a single capacity accommodations .

According to reports submitted to the SSC , the hotels received during the year 666 300 people, which is 6.6 % more than in 2012 . 59.3% of them were foreigners . More moderate rate of growth was shown by the main indicator of hotel establishments - man/overnight - only 2%. If in 2012 the number of overnight stays in hotels was 1.64 million, last year this figure rose to 1,674,000 . Thus 65.4% of overnight stays accounted for hotels in the city of Baku.

Officially hotels in Azerbaijan are almost empty: their usage for the year was only 13.5%.

Hotel revenues in 2013 amounted to 171.3 million manat, increasing by 11.2%. Revenues came mostly from the sales numbers (64.7 %) and food (23,4%). Costs of hotels for the year 145.5 million ( 31.4 %). About a third of the costs (30.5%) accounted for salaries of the employees. Last year, the number grew by 938 people and reached 8,259. Hotel staff earns an average 448 manat per month. - 08D-