Tourism

Tourism

London hotels raise prices by 5 times

15 March 2011 14:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Games officials make available 6.6m Olympic tickets on Tuesday to applications from the public, but travel operators have been shocked at the prices some hotels are already charging and by their demands for upfront payment and 100 per cent cancellation fees, Financial Times reported.

The London mayor said the following 18 months, which include next monthâ€™s royal wedding and next yearâ€™s Olympics and diamond jubilee, presented a â€œgolden opportunityâ€ for London to promote itself as a visitor destination.

But responding to concerns raised in the Financial Times by wholesale travel agents, Mr Johnson said: â€œWe mustnâ€™t be seen as sharks through the actions of the short-sighted Arthur Daleys out there who want to cash in on the games. Their actions could ruin the excellent work put in by the rest of the tourist sector, with repercussions for decades to come.â€

The European Tour Operators Association said on Monday that long-haul origin markets, particularly the US and Japan, were â€œfinding it impossible to secure hotel space at viable rates and termsâ€ during the games.

Hoteliers were operating under the false premise that demand in the Olympics would far outstrip supply, ETOA added. It said hoteliers assumed that the high demand of the past two years would be repeated, and that those people put off coming to London during the weeks of the Olympics would opt instead for the weeks before and after. â€œAn industry stands in jeopardy through overhyped fantasies of bonanza,â€ said Tom Jenkins of ETOA.

Mr Johnson called on hoteliers to sign up to an industry-led fair pricing charter under which hospitality businesses pledge to maintain fair and reasonable prices before, during and after the Olympics, a call echoed by Lord Coe, chairman of London 2012.
He said he was confident tickets would be bought by UK residents beyond London and the south-east, although he acknowledged that a family from, for example, Sheffield would have to calculate the impact of a trip to the Olympics on their monthly disposable income. The ticket application system will remain open until April 26.

More than 2.5m have signed up for ticket information, only 4 per cent of them from overseas. More than 2m have requested athletics events, and the distribution of tickets is due to be announced in June.