Down market the only way

According to a recent report by consultants Deloitte & Touche, only budget hotels have proved resilient to the post-September 11th crisis that has beleaguered the tourist trade around the world. Those with three stars and above have been struggling to fill their rooms, not least of course in Poland. While they're still relatively thin on the ground here, one to two star hotels are about to make a stronger presence felt in this part of Europe "There were no budget hotels in the UK ten years ago," says Julia Felton of Deloitte & Touche. Now they number nine hundred and offer 55,000 rooms combined, and the consultants estimate that there will be around 90,000 in that country by the middle of the decade. This comparatively healthy predicament for this sector in Britain, is being repeated across Europe, according to the Deloitte & Touche report: "The economy sector, (...), has remained virtually unaffected by events and its occupancy levels remain unchanged at around 62%. (...)