United - Liverpool clash brings historic first for city’s hotels

Manchester's city centre hotels hit 100% occupancy on the day of the Manchester United and Liverpool FC match at Old Trafford in February.

This was also the same night as the Creative Crafts show at Eventcity and Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium.

It is the first time that Manchester's city centre accommodation has been fully booked since daily records began in August 2003, even during extremely popular events such as the 2011 Take That tour, the 2008 UEFA cup final in Manchester or annual events such as Manchester Pride or Manchester International Festival (MIF) where hotels in the city centre consistently experience high capacity.

Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester said: "We are by no means a city with lacking accommodation. Manchester's city centre hotels are able to cater for tremendous amounts of visitors. For this reason, it comes as a huge surprise to reach 100% occupancy - and a fantastic one at that. Manchester is an extremely proud city - particularly of our sports - and this news could not come at a better time.

"With Soccerex currently taking place in Manchester, the 2012 London Olympic Games bringing football to Manchester and the opening of the National Football Museum in the city centre - it seems as though 2012 is an important year for reminding people that Manchester is the city of many things, and one of those things is sport".

Other key calendar events this year include The X Factor Live Tour at the Manchester Arena (Saturday 25 February) where occupancy reached 98% and a Saturday during the National Squash Championships at Sportcity (7 February) at 97%. February 2012 showed an increase in the monthly average of occupancy on February 2011, from 76% to 77%.

This demonstrates the continued success of Manchester's tourism industry, with particular strong figures for key events such as concerts and sports matches.

All figures and statistics featured in the release are based on a city centre sample of 26 hoteliers, from data supplier STR Global.

ENDS