Thistle down as fewer visit

LONDON's largest hotels group, Thistle, said turnover at its 18 owned or leased hotels was down 14% to £53.9m for the first 20 weeks of the year against the same time last year.

Thistle blamed a decline in international visitors and business travellers for a 2% drop in occupancy rates from 72.3% and 12% fall in average room rate. Turnover also slipped at the 38 managed hotels, down 3.2% to £50.6 million. Thistle shares were off 5p to 127 1/2p.