It now seems that Orlando has seen its hotel occupancy and room rates fall again for the month of October. These new reports now confirm the continuation of a very punishing decline that began at the start of 2008.

Overall, occupancy levels during the month of Orlando fell by 8.7 percent in October. Room rates, however, fell nearly 14.6 percent in comparison to the same month last year. The Orlando area occupancy was 57.5 percent in October, which is down from the 61.7 percent that was seen a year earlier as well. Average daily room rate finally fell to $91.36, which is down from $106.99 during October of 2008.

Revenue per available room, which is the key measure of a hotel’s financial health as a whole, was actually down 20.3 percent in October of this year when compared to the same month last year. This could have been the most disheartening news for the Orlando hotel industry.

Overall, Orlando has more than 117,000 hotel rooms, giving it the nation’s second largest concentration of rooms. The reason for such a high number of hotel rooms in one area is due to the theme parks and other attractions that are located right in Orlando or just outside of the city. Since visitors from all over the world go to these theme parks yearly, the city needs a high concentration of rooms to help accommodate them all.

Of course, the decline in hotel revenue has led to a very steep downturn in area resort tax collection. This is a key source of money for tourism promotional efforts.