THE region’s tourism capital has become a boom town for the hotel industry, it has been revealed.

York was placed second behind Chester in this year’s UK Hotels Market Index, released this week by Colliers International, which looks at 34 locations around the country and ranks them for hotel development and acquisition.

The index analyses the locations and scores them according to nine key performance indicators, including land site prices, build costs, market appetite, valuation exit yields, room occupancy, average daily rate, room occupancy rates, four year revenue per room trend and supply and construction costs.

The ratings are then consolidated into a single figure and ranked, to help potential investors or developers pinpoint which markets would be desirable.

Following two years of discussion with planners in York, Northminster Ltd recently submitted plans for a new 146-bedroom hotel in Piccadilly, but said the scheme may go on hold.

The city has also seen the Indigo hotel in Walmgate and apartment-hotel site next to the Barbican developed in recent years, with a new Malmaison planned for the former Aviva building in Rougier Street, a Travelodge in Layerthorpe, and a new 120-bed hotel from Vastint Hospitality planned for Hungate. A large scale expansion is currently underway at the Grand Hotel &Spa.