Asia Hotel Forecast 2012

from Gaming & Leisure Magazine

www.gamingandleisuremagazine.com

Spring 2012

The consensus at the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) in October 2011 was that “Asia is where it’s at.”   The key discussions all highlighting the fact that most significant hotel growth around the world is planned for APAC.   The conference in Hong Kong, attended by the industry’s movers and shakers clearly highlighted Asia as their key growth market.

Over the next few years, hotel development in Asia-Pacific will comprise 1,373 hotels with more than 335,000 rooms, more supply than planned in Europe, Middle East and Africa combined.  These promising plans indicate 77% of hotel development is scheduled for Asia, clearly well ahead of any other region worldwide.

Hotel investment worldwide is clearly rebounding after the deep slump, consequent on the Great Recession of 2008-2009, with US$14.8 billion having been invested in the second quarter of 2011. This represented an increase of 117 per cent over the same period in 2010, driven by investment of US$7.4 billion in the Americas, a growth of 187 per cent.

Asia-Pacific, where hotel investment had fared better in the recession, went up by 59 per cent with strong activity, particularly in Singapore, China, Japan and Hong Kong.

Statistics clearly indicate the reason for optimism.  Asia Pacific’s RevPAR growth stands at a phenomenal 23.0%, far outperforming all other regions around the world.  With a region-wide aggregate RevPAR of just over US$86, Asia Pacific comes out ahead of both Europe and the Americas in absolute performance.

World Tourism Organization reports show that in April 2011, international visitor arrivals to Asia-Pacific increased by 6.8 per cent and for the first four months by 5.4 per cent, ahead of 4.5 per cent for total international tourist arrivals.  The best performers in the region included Hong Kong up 20 per cent; Vietnam, 22 per cent; Singapore, 17 per cent; Cambodia, 11 per cent; and Australia, up eight per cent.

Asian hotel expansion is earmarked for the world’s fastest-growing economies: China and India. 1,248 hotel projects are slated for China, representing 35% of the world’s total hotel projects (and 44% of all rooms under construction globally). India boasts the 2nd-fastest-growing Asian pipeline, with 450-plus projects and nearly 80,000 rooms under construction.  

Among the region’s markets, New Delhi has comes in with the largest expected growth (+46.3%) if all 10,477 rooms in the total active pipeline open. Other markets to report a significant growth in existing supply: Manila, Philippines (+30.0% with 5,523 rooms); Mumbai, India (+22.5% with 4,185 rooms); Bali, Indonesia (+19.3% with 6,257 rooms); and Jakarta, Indonesia (+17.3% with 4,541 rooms).

A clear indication of the focus on this regional market is Starwood Hotels & Resort’s announcement that it has surpassed the 200th hotel milestone with a flurry of recent openings in China, India, Thailand and Malaysia. Starwood continues to widen its lead as the largest operator of four- and five-star hotels in Asia-Pacific with plans to reach more than 320 hotels by 2014.

“The opening of our 200th hotel in Asia Pacific underscores the vitality of this market and its importance to our future growth,” Frits van Paasschen, Starwood’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Demand for our high-caliber brands continues to soar across Asia’s many dynamic markets, driven by phenomenal economic growth and significant increases in outbound travel, particularly from China and India.”

Similarly, France's Accor, has planed to open more than 200 new properties in Asia within three years as it looks to leverage the region's increasing affluence.  Accor, which owns 4,200 hotels worldwide -- including 450 Ibis, Novotel, All Seasons, Sofitel, Pullman and Mercure resorts in Asia-Pacific -- said it would target China, India and Indonesia as its chief markets for growth.

With the markets in Europe and the United States struggling with poor economies and debt crises, Accor mentions Asia would overtake the West as its biggest growth area.  They announced that 42 percent of the 100,000 new rooms it is planning to add around the world will be in Asia.

Accor currently has 110 hotels in China, and plans to open 55 by 2014.   Though they have only nine properties in India, they plan to open 63 within three years.  In Indonesia Accor will open 34 more, adding to the 43 it already has.

A key indicator often cited by leading hotel groups is the massive scale of new orders for aircraft from airlines in the region.  In recent months AirAsia, Malaysia's low-cost carrier, has placed huge orders with Airbus Industrie for 200 of its A320 jets.  India's IndiGo had earlier confirmed an order of 180 of the same plane.  Additionally, several Chinese airlines have also signed significant deals for hundreds of the same Airbus A320 model.

This significant up-swing of budget air travel has added to the significant growth of 2-3 star budget hotels throughout the region.  As the growing number of travelers travel on low-cost airlines, they’ll be looking to pair that with budget accommodations.  Accor is one of several global groups boosting the presence of their budget hotel brands to meet this growing demand.

The growing affluence of Asian economies and their growing demand for travel have lead most international hotel groups into an increased presence in the Asia Pacific region.

Further information on the HICAP Conference can be found at:  www.hicapconference.com