Third quarter total income for accommodation -1.2%

The total income for the accommodation industry for the third quarter of 2011 decreased by 1.2% compared with the third quarter of 2010, Statistics SA said on Monday, 21 November.

Total income for the accommodation industry in September increased by 7.5% compared with September 2010.

Income from accommodation for the third quarter of 2011 decreased by 7.0% compared with the third quarter of 2010, the Pretoria-based agency said.

"This decrease was due to a decrease of 1.8% in the number of stay unit nights sold and a decrease of 5.3% in the average income per stay unit night sold."

Income from accommodation in September increased by 5.1% compared with September 2010.

The number of stay units available for the third quarter decreased by 1.9% compared with the third quarter of 2010.

The number of stay units available in September decreased by 1.4% compared with September 2010, Statistics SA added.

The number of stay unit nights sold for the third quarter decreased by 1.8% compared with the third quarter of 2010 while the number of stay unit nights sold in September increased by 2.3% compared with September 2010.

The decrease recorded for hotels (-11.2% and contributing -8.0 percentage points) was marginally counteracted by the increases recorded for guest-houses and guest-farms (15.1% and contributing 0.9 of a percentage point) and caravan parks and camping sites (37.5% and contributing 0.2 of a percentage point).

Income from accommodation for September increased 5.1% year on year with the main contributor being "other accommodation" (9.9% and contributing 2.2 percentage points), followed by guest-houses and guest-farms (28.5% and contributing 1.8 percentage points) and hotels (1.8% and contributing 1.2 percentage points).