Singapore Has Another 1 Million Visitor Month

The Singapore Tourism Board said 1.13 million tourist arrivals were recorded in April, the second consecutive month of more than a million arrivals. This was the highest monthly number of visitor arrivals since the start of the pandemic. January 2020 was the last big month of arrivals (1.7 million) and that is within reach. Indonesia was the top source market with 220,067 arrivals in April followed by Malaysia and India with 98,190 and 97,029 respectively. Still way down but on the rebound was China with 90,725 arrivals in April, up from 60,888 in March.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism believes they may attract 10 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, surpassing the target of 8 million previously set. In the first four months of the year, nearly 3.7 million foreign tourists traveled to Vietnam with the number of domestic tourists coming in at 38 million. Total revenue from tourists was estimated at US$8.3 billion. In April, the country welcomed 984,000 international travelers, the highest figure this year and up 9.9% from March. The Republic of Korea remains Vietnam’s biggest tourism market in the first four months with 1 million visitors. The US is a distant second at 263,000 while China is at 252,000 but the number of Chinese tourists in April totaled 112,000, up 61.5% from March due to China’s decision to reopen group tours on March 15^th.

Savills Hanoi said the hospitality industry of Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi is on the mend on the back of surges in both international and domestic tourist arrivals. In the first quarter of 2023, the number of overnight visitors rose 220% year over year to 1.1 million, including 339,000 domestic tourists, up 21%, and 712,000 foreign travelers, up 1,400%. Savills said Hanoi’s hospitality supply reached 10,260 rooms in Q1 with 17 five-star hotels, 18 four-star hotels and 31 three-star. The average occupancy rate stood at 58%, up nine percentage points q/q and 35 percentage points y/y. The city is expected to have two new hotel projects with 471 rooms in total this year and 66 new projects totaling 11,123 rooms in 2024, according to Savills. Of the 68 new projects, 61% are five-star hotels.

Chinese Valentines Day took place on May 20, resulting in an uptick in tourism markets. Trip.com reported the romantic economy soared with the number of hotel packages increasing five-fold during the weekend. Trip.com said booking volumes of hotel rooms for couples increased 200% compared to 2019 levels with booking volumes for cinema thematic rooms rising 300%. The number of outbound hotel bookings of Chinese travelers showed a slight increase with Thailand keeping its lead. Trip.com data showed the number of hotel bookings in Thailand last weekend increased by nearly 20% compared with the previous week and the number of hotel bookings in Indonesia increased by nearly 70%.

Macau hotel room occupancy rates continued their strength in April, reaching 86.2%, up by 53.5 percentage points year over year. 3-star hotels saw the highest occupancy rate at 94.6%, up by nearly 60 percentage points. Five-star hotels were at 85.8% with four-star properties at 80.1%. Rooms rates were up 66.6% year over year to MOP1,369.9 (US$170.70) Three-star hotels had higher occupancy but room rates were nearly the same with four-star hotels at MOP1,037 and MOP1,066 respectively.

Marriott Executive Apartments announced the launch of its apartment-style accommodations with Marriott Executive Apartments, Navi Mumbai. Located within 45 minutes from Mumbai International Airport, the 129 modern residential apartments include standard rooms, studios, junior suites, one-bedroom apartments, and a presidential suite overlooking the Navi Mumbai skyline on one side and Parsik Hills on the other. The lodging brand includes two dining venues, meeting and event spaces totaling over 2,236 square meters and leisure facilities including a hillside panoramic outdoor pool, fitness center, a rejuvenating spa and a kid’s playroom.

The newly-built ibis Yogyakarta International Airport Kulon Progo hotel is in the Yogyakarta, Indonesia Special Region, a five-minute drive from Yogyakarta International Airport. The hotel features a total of 224 stylish rooms including Standard, Premium with sofa and Premium family options. The hotel includes the all day dining restaurant, ibis Kitchen, event space, kids’ corner, a web corner and more.

The mid-rise Millennium Hilton Hotel in downtown Seoul, South Korea will be razed and replaced with a 38-story twin skyscraper that could block the scenic view of Mr. Nam if IGIS Asset Management has its way. IGIS owns the Hilton and they submitted plans to Jung District Office seeking to demolish the 23 story steel and glass block and replace it with a 38 story building now that height restrictions have been eased.

Melbourne-based global fund manager Salter Brothers has acquired the Hydro Majestic Hotel as well as Lilianfels Resort in the NSW Blue Mountains in Australia. This is part of a five-hotel portfolio acquisition in a major off-market deal. Salter Brothers has acquired the Escarpment Group’s boutique hotel and estate portfolio which encompasses 237 rooms across the tourism drawcards of the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley wine region and is valued at well over $100 million. Salter Brothers’ recently acquired the portfolio of luxury Spicers Retreats from Flight Centre’s June Turner. Under the recent deal with Escarpment Group, Salter has acquired 127 rooms within a two-hour drive of Sydney or Brisbane. Besides the 89-room Lilianfels and 84-room The Majestic, Salter is buying the 14-room Echoes Boutique Hotel, the 31-room Parklands Country Garden & Lodges and the 19-room The Convent Hunter Valley. The portfolio includes signature restaurants such as Darley’s Restaurant at Lilianfels and Circa 1876 at The Convent Hunter Valley.

Personnel Moves

The Ascott Limited announced it is expanding its global business development team with the appointment of Ryan Chen and Dulaphan Amatyakul as Vice Presidents of Business Development. The move is in line with Ascott’s commitment to drive asset-light growth as it targets to double its fee revenue to over S$500 million in the next five years. Ryan joins Ascott from Far East Hospitality where he expanded the business through strategic initiatives. Before that he was Group Director of Development for Dusit International. Dulaphan comes to Ascott from Conduit House Holdings (Thailand) where he was Senior Vice President, Investment & Business Development.

Chalet Hotels Limited has appointed Vishal Sharma as Senior Vice President – Projects. He will lead the Chalet Hotels design and projects team, responsible for overseeing Chalet’s projects division. He joins Chalet Hotels from Colliers Project Management Services where he was heading up hospitality projects for the company.