A report produced quarterly by Deloitte UK, the business advisory firm, has found that year-to-September hotel performance fell across Europe. Revenue per available room performance in European hotels was down 19.2 per cent. This decline was driven by a 12.3 per cent drop in average room rates and a 7.8 per cent drop in occupancy.

Raphael Aloisio, partner of Tourism Hospitality & Leisure at Deloitte in Malta, said: "The past year has been one of turbulence for European hoteliers as the economic crisis has taken its toll. Soaring unemployment, and the strength of the euro against many world currencies has seriously impacted hotel performance in Europe".

"Although slightly cushioned by marginally lower declines in achieved occupancy levels over the summer months, generally speaking hotels in Malta experienced similar trends to its European Counterparts".

"As many consumers held back on travelling abroad, and businesses tightened their purse strings on corporate travel - hotels, airlines and tour operators all saw a fall in performance and sales this year. Every city across the region reported declines in revPAR year-to-September, some hit more severely than others."

In the eurozone, hoteliers saw revPAR fall 16.8 per cent as the strength of the euro against sterling deterred travellers to the traditional hotspots of Spain, France and Italy. However, countries outside the euro zone did not come out unscathed, with revPAR dipping in excess of 20 per cent, as average room rates drove the decline, according to data from STR Global.

Looking ahead, Marvin Rust, Hospitality Managing Partner at Deloitte UK, said: "We are already seeing signs of economic recovery across Europe. Consumer confidence has started to improve as well as a number of countries including Germany, France, Greece and Portugal closing the door on the recession. It will be an uphill struggle for some months to come before hoteliers start to post positive results once more, however it looks like the worst may be over and the New Year should see a reversal of part of the revPAR declines seen in 2009."