Malaysia

Hilton’s Asia Pacific president, Alan Watts, told Nikkei Asia that they expect hotel guest numbers in China to return to their pre-pandemic levels by year-end. By the fourth quarter, they are expecting to see regular 80% occupancies. Of the 7,000 hotels Hilton runs worldwide, Asia Pacific accounts for about 9% with 672 properties representing 12 brands. […]

CNBC produced a segment on how hotel rates in Asia Pacific are surging. Squawk Box Asia late last week interviewed Alan Watts, Hilton’s Asia Pacific president who told them rates are at an all time high, clearly following the same pattern rates did in the United States after they opened up the country. Watts said the rates are being […]

STR reported China hotel RevPAR for the week ended January 28 was up 177.8% year over year. When compared with the same week in 2019, China hotel RevPAR was up 66.6%. Helping the year over year and 2019 comparison results was the timing of Chinese New Year – January 22, 2023 versus February 1, 2021 and February 5, […]

Singapore said it is expecting between 12 million and 14 million international visitor arrivals in 2023. That would be more than double the 6.3 million final tally of visitors in 2022 but below the 19.1 million that visited in 2019. The Singapore Tourism Board expects tourism receipts to reach S$18 billion to S$21 billion, up from […]

Hotels in Thailand still want the government to accelerate the launch of the new phase of the domestic stimulus scheme even with an influx of Chinese tourists expected to show up. The Thai Hotels Association said the “We Travel Together” hotel subsidy scheme provides integral support for hotels and domestic tourists in terms of spending but […]

STR reported China hotel RevPAR rose 6.9% year over year the week ended January 7. RevPAR, when compared to the same week in 2019, was down -39.6%. The results should start to change with the next report due to the removal of most of the restrictions, offset by what is still being reported by some media […]

Macau follows what China’s leadership tells them to and now it is confirmed that Zero Covid is dead. Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs formally announced that Macau is undergoing a ‘gradual reopening’ as authorities realize they can no longer control the outbreak in the community and mainland Chinese policies shift towards a more open approach. The […]

The number of foreign visitors to Japan rose to nearly 500,000 in October, the first month it fully reopened to overseas visitors after more than two years of being closed due to Covid restrictions. The 498,600 foreign visitors in October was more than double September’s 206,500. That number was still down -80% on 2019. In 2019 a record 31.8 […]

The supposed reopening trade for China stocks hit a speed bump as the realization set in with investors that Covid cases are not going down, in fact they continue to go up. For the sixth straight day, the number of new cases topped 20,000 with a new seven month high today of more than 26,000. Guangdong is once again […]

STR reported China hotel RevPAR the week ended October 29 was down -17.1% year over year. When up against the similar week in 2019, hotel RevPAR fell -44.8%. China hotel absolute occupancy for the week was 48.8% compared with 55.2% during the same week in 2021. The South China Morning Post published an article on medical tourism being ramped up […]

Accor said they signed an agreement with Panthers Group for a new five-star Pullman hotel at the Penrith Panthers precinct in Western Sydney. The upper upscale 153-room Pullman Sydney Penrith hotel, slated to open in the fourth quarter of 2023, forms part of Panthers Group’s landmark transformation of the Penrith Panthers precinct to create a new state-of-the-art business and entertainment destination. The hotel […]

STR reported China hotel RevPAR for the week ended 10/15. Hotel RevPAR in China was down -35.5% year over year while down -52.5% when up against the same week in 2019. Absolute occupancy for the week in 2022 was 46.2%. That compares with 65% during the comparable week in 2021. Hyatt Hotels announced the opening of […]