Asia-Pacific

Finn Partners released the results of their latest report, Outbound Rebound: The Return of Chinese Travelers . Marriott International announced plans to expand its portfolio in Greater China with the expected addition of 47 hotels in 2023, comprising more than 12,000 rooms. Accor announced the opening of Grand Mercure Hanoi, a new premium hotel in Vietnam .

A Crisil Market Intelligence report predicted the revenue of premium hotels in India will rise 80% this current fiscal year. The Macao Government Tourism office said the number of mainland visitors to Macau reached 50% of pre-pandemic levels while the rebound of Hong Kong visitors is even stronger. The MGTO also said they completed the approval process for the Raffles at Galaxy Macau hotel tower, part of Cotai’s Galaxy Macau Phase 3 project.

Malaysia reopened its borders nearly a year ago and finally its hotel industry is getting back to pre-pandemic occupancy levels. The resort island of Phuket in Thailand has seen a surge of Russian travelers in the high season. That adds to a jump in regional visitation from India , Malaysia and Singapore . Reuters published an article on how the belief that airline stocks and online travel agencies would be the best Chinese travel reopening play was wrong.

STR reported China hotel data for the week ended March 18. China hotel RevPAR rose 134% on a year-over-year basis, up against an easy -46% comp result in 2022. Marriott International announced the milestone opening of  hotel number 1,000  in Asia Pacific , signaling its continued confidence in the long-term growth potential of the region. Sabre said they have found strong demand among Chinese outbound travelers, despite high airfare costs.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board announced Hong Kong saw a provisional visitor arrival of 1.462 million in February, three times what arrived in January. Indian Hotels Company announced the opening of Ginger Chennai, OMR in Tamil Nadu in India. The World Trade Center Association and the Merlin Group have partnered to develop a World Trade Center in the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority area, Salt Lake, West Bengal.

Nepal hotels are complaining they are not seeing the deluge of reservations they would expect at this time of year. Asset World Public Company Limited signed a hotel management agreement with IHG to launch the Kimpton Pattaya and further demonstrate confidence in Thailand’s tourism industry. ANA Holdings and IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan signed a comprehensive commercial agreement.

Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh instructed his cabinet to relax certain visa requirements in a bid to attract more foreign tourists to the country. The Economic Times said many more hotels will be signed in India this year  compared to last year with some chains even considering doubling their signing numbers from last year. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts announced strong growth in Asia Pacific as it closed out 2022, diversifying its offerings for guests and owners across the region.

STR reported China hotel RevPAR for the week ended March 11. Hotel RevPAR in China was up 85% year over year for the week. STR said Sydney WorldPride 2023 drove the market’s hotel average daily rate and RevPAR above pre-pandemic levels while occupancy remained slightly below 2019. The director of the Macao Government Tourism Office told a tourism forum that Macau welcomed an average of around 57,000 visitor arrivals each day in February .

Oxford Economics said tourist arrivals into the Asia Pacific region are tipped to reach around 50% of pre-Covid levels in 2023. China will resume issuing visas to foreign tourists for the first time since the pandemic broke out more than three years ago. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has recently unveiled two new hotels in Australasia with the latest being TRYP by Wyndham Pulteney Street Adelaide .

Reuters published an article on how the hoped for, fast out of the gate, revenge travel by the Chinese following the demise of Zero-Covid has not occurred. Instead of a stampede, it has been more like a fast walk . South Korea and Australia were left off the next list of 40 countries to which China will resume outbound group tours as of tomorrow . Macau authorities are easing measures for entry to mainland China for visitors coming from Hong Kong , aimed at further improving circulation between the SARs and the mainland