Edinburgh 'needs 1,500 new rooms in 5 years'

City planners have warned that the rising number of people travelling through Edinburgh Airport will necessitate an extra 1,500 hotel rooms by 2013.

Passenger traffic at Edinburgh is expected to climb from 8.9 million people a year now to around 13 million in 2013, the Scotsman reports.

More than 1,500 new hotel rooms will be needed near the airport to cope with this increase, planners said, while a further 2,100 will be required by 2030.

Jim Lowrie, convener of the city's planning committee, said: "Edinburgh Airport is identified as a gateway to Edinburgh and Scotland.

"This report gives further evidence of Edinburgh's growing success and the need to manage that growth in a planned and structured way."

An airport spokeswoman said that additional hotel provision is a "key requirement" if passengers are to be provided with quality and choice.

Edinburgh Airport has seen consistent growth over the past year and last month announced that its passengers now have direct access to more than 100 destinations around the world.