Fund management company Tradeview Capital said they expect Malaysia’stourism market to outperform other ASEAN competitors this year. CEO Ng Zhu Hann said mutual visa-free entry for Malaysia and China, along with the historically low ringgit, are the main drivers boosting the country’s tourism market. He pointed to a very large number of Chinese arriving in Malaysia during the recent Chinese New Year. A local media outlet said there was a 50% rise in Chinese tourists during the holiday. That sounds good but last year China was just coming off the end of Zero Covid. Tour operators said the Chinese spent between RM1 billion and RM1.5 billion in the country. The Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association estimated more than 100,000 Chinese tourists, comprising some 5,000 tour groups, visited Malaysia from February 5th to 19th.
The Macau Statistics and Census Service said visitor arrivals reached 2,861,609 in January. That was up 104.7% year on year but January 2023 still didn’t count as the Zero Covid policy was just ending then. More important is that January 2024 was 83.5% of January 2019. Visitors from Mainland China accounted for 72% of the total and 82% of the 2019 level. Probably more important for Macau and Hong Kongwas the news from the Chinese government as they announced plans to expand the current individual visit scheme. The expansion will now include the two major cities of Xi’an and Qingdao, potentially adding around 20 million visitors to Macauand Hong Kong. The implementation is expected to take effect on March 6.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the opening of Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya. They reached an agreement with Tokyu Land Corporation earlier in the month for the 126-room hotel which includes 18 suites. The hotel is situated in Shibuya Sakura Stage, a new two-tower complex built by Tokyu Land Corporation as part of the redevelopment of the Shibuya area.
Sunset Hospitality Group unveiled a new Social Living Collection Hotel – Cocana Resort by Social Living Collection, now open on Bali’s island of Gili Trawangan. Sunset Hospitality owns and operates a portfolio of hospitality lifestyle brands with a presence in 16 countries and over 55 venues worldwide. They launched Sunset Hotels & Resorts in 4Q23 with plans to develop, open and operate over 20 new hotels in the next three years. The new Cocana Resort is the first five-star hotel located in Gili Trawangan in Indonesia. The resort includes 83 rooms, spread across 38 lagoon rooms with a variety of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom private villas.
On April 15, 2024, the Travelodge Myeongdong Namsan will open its doors. The latest addition to the Travelodge Hotels Asia portfolio signifies the brand’s growing presence in the South Korean capital. It is owned by Plenitude Berhad.
Two Queenstown hospitality companies were placed in receivership, two and half months after the death of their founder Kevin Carlin. BDO takes over as receiver and managers of Carlin Hotel Property Management Ltd. and Queenstown Views Villas Ltd with no disruption to hotel operations expected. BDO plans to search for buyers of the company, assets or both. Carlin died suddenly in December. One of the hotels is the six-star The Carlin Boutique Hotel, a $30 million plus project where he lived in a penthouse on top.
Mahindra Holidays & Resorts entered into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh, India government to invest Rs 500 crore in the state. Mahindra said they are also in talks with the governments in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir for investment opportunities. Mahindra is aiming to go from 5,000 to 10,000 keys by 2030 and expects capex to run in the Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 crore range to set up new resorts, brownfield expansion and acquisitions. Presently about Rs 835 crore of investment is underway for five greenfield, brownfield and acquisition projects, comprising about 690 keys.
Eco Hotels and Resorts announced a significant expansion plan that will see its operations swell to over 2,000 hotel rooms in India by March 2025. The venture’s catalyst was its recent acquisition of Vitizen Hotels Ltd., adding 20 hotels with about 1,200 rooms. Eco Hotels & Resorts was previously Sharad Fibres and Yarn Processors Ltd. but changed the complete direction and business plan of the company to hotels. The company plans to establish a network of sustainable and luxurious hotels under the brand name ‘The Eco’. The vision includes developing two brands in Kerala and identifying properties in Mumbai, Goa and Pune for immediate expansion.
Melco Resorts and Entertainment announced the resignation of Chief Operating Officer (Macau Operations) David Fisk. Melco said they will be considering candidates for replacement but they will rehire Alidad Trash as Executive Vice President of Analytics and Gaming Operations for Macau. Trash had tried to go it on his own with the Hong Kong consulting firm he founded, 2NT8 Limited for the past seven years. Stefan Bollhalder will join Melco Resorts as Vice President of Hotels and Food & Beverage for City of Dreams Macau. He was most recently General Manager of Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono. Another new hire for Melco is Linda Switzer who takes over as Vice President of Retail as of April 1. Switzer was most recently VP of Retail and Wynn Macau.
SkyCity announced the appointment of Brad Burnett as Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective on March 9th. Burnett makes the jump from his position as General Manager Table Games Auckland. Before assuming that casino position he was Group General Manager Hotels. Previously he worked for Blackstone Group and Marriott’s Westin Hotels & Resorts.
Associated International Hotels Limited announced Cheong Chin Hong Rodneyhas been appointed as an Executive Director and Chief Engineering Officer of the company, with effect from today. Rodney Cheong is the nephew of Cheong Kheng Lim, a substantial shareholder of the company.
