Growth in the UK hotel industry is expected to increase in 2005 following a better than expected January, according to hospitality consultancy TRI's HotStats Review.

UKinbound saw visitor arrivals jump by 6.1% in January compared with the same month last year. Revpar surged forward by 5.5% in the same period.

Hotels in London performed the strongest, with a 7.7% rise in revpar, compared with 4.4% outside the capital.

TRI is predicting revpar to rise by 9% in London this year and 5% outside the capital.

The growth follows bumper rises in 2004, which were largely a result of a surge in overseas visitors. Overall numbers rose 11% to 27.5 million.

The number of visitors from Western Europe rose 10%, taking the total to 17.7 million in 2004, followed by North American visitors, which rose by 9% to 4.35 million.

Spending from overseas visitors was also up 8% to £12.8b for the year.

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