No room (almost) at Manchester's inns

The city's economy may be struggling but more and more people want to go there. And it's worth keeping an eye on little Ewloe...Manchester isn't above pushing things when it comes to tourism ? I remember double-taking at a huge poster in Seattle airport which said 'Manchester' but had a picture of that mega-pretty cottage on the edge of Dungeon Ghyll in Langdale (Piccadilly station 95 miles south...)Still, that's how you pack 'em in; and the rainy city has been doing that successfully this summer with the highest hotel occupancy for June since such records were started back in Millennium year.There was just two percent left of rooms in city centre hotels for latecomers during Glee's two-night residency at the MEN Arena, and only one percent more on the eight nights of gigs by Take That, the longest stay on their national tour. Occupancy levels that high bring an estimated �12.4 million into the tills of shops, bars, restaurants and other business in the city centre, quite apart from the hotels.New Economy's monthly Manchester Monitor meanwhile acknowledges contextual bleakness, with long-term unemployment on the rise, job vacancies down and average house prices at �107,000 which is 4.3 percent lower than a year ago (but still too high for average salaries in terms of decent mortgage deals). Is there are Cardinal Newman-style kindly light amid the'encircling gloom? The Monitor dutifully scrabbles around.The hotel occupancy data is among them, along with a ten percent increase of passengers at Manchester airport to 1.74 million (which will not, of course, be viewed with universal eco-joy). Office take-up has also increased and the arrival of Aegis in City Tower is expected to create up to 600 new jobs.Interesting news too from Ewloe, that little hothouse just across the Dee estuary, which houses Redrow builders, regional offices for Unilever and HSBC and the headquarters of Moneysupermarket.com. The latter has recorded a �12.5 million rise in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year, and is paying shareholders a special dividend.I was on the estuary a few months back doing a story on cockling, but the sense of economic innovation was more interesting. Part of the north (apologies to Wales, but that whole area feels shared between us) to watch. The home and library at Hawarden of that supreme northern icon William Gladstone is just round the corner too.ManchesterManchesterManchesterHotelsLake DistrictEconomic growth (GDP)Martin Wainwrightguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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