Indonesia

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.

STR said hotel RevPAR in China was up 58% year over year for the week ended February 25. The number of foreign tourists arriving in Vietnam in February reached 933,000, up 7.1% versus January. Hilton announced it will bring its Doubletree brand to The Orange City for the first time with DoubleTree by Hilton Nagpur .

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%. STR said Southeast Asia sits at the lower end of recovery compared to other STR-defined subcontinents. They are above Northeastern Asia in terms of occupancy and average daily rate in 2022. Dusit Hotels and Resorts will add 14 hotels and resorts to their portfolio this year across China, Greece, India, Japan, Kenya, Nepal and Thailand .

UNWTO’s forward-looking scenarios for 2023 suggests global international tourist arrivals could reach 80%-95% of pre-pandemic levels this year. Cambodia is expecting to receive up to four million international tourists this year, accelerated by China announcing its reopening policy. 2022 brought some 2.28 million international tourists to Cambodia with China making up only 106,000 of them. The Macau Hotel Association warned that local hotels may need to cap their maximum guest capacity at 70% to 89% during the Lunar New Year holiday period due to a shortage of staff in operations.

Macau follows what China’s leadership tells them to and now it is confirmed that Zero Covid is dead. ONYX Hospitality Group unveiled plans to strengthen its serviced apartment brand, Shama . The Novotel Bali Benoa has reopened following a major renovation that will reposition the beachfront resort.

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. Visitor arrivals to Macau in October totaled 580,333, up just 4% from September despite October being a month with a Golden Week. Radisson Hotel Group is planning to grow its portfolio in India from 140 hotels to 200 in FY24.

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. ONYX Hospitality Group said they reinforced their expansion plan with a strategic focus on its home territory of Thailand and neighboring destination, Malaysia . According to the recent Q3 2022 close of the Construction Pipeline Trend Report , Asia Pacific’s total construction pipeline, excluding China, stands at 1,881 projects.

STR reported Melbourne, Australia’s hotel performance reached a pandemic era high, according to preliminary October 2022 data from STR. JP Morgan issued a report projecting that airline travel in the Asia Pacific region will hit two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. Indies Capital Partners announced the acquisition of a 60% stake in PT Swiss-Belhotel International Indonesia and PT Zest Hotels International Indonesia from Ciputra Group Indonesia.

Bloomberg said Fosun is also considering strategic options for French luxury resort chain Club Med SAS and could seek a value of about $1.5 billion for the business. Shanghai Disney Resort remains closed, two weeks after Covid-19 cases caused operations to cease. Marriott International announced plans to expand its select service portfolio in Greater China with the expected addition of 30 hotels in the segment by the end of 2023.

Goldman Sachs said the Chinese government still needs to keep its Zero-Covid policy until probably the April-June quarter. Some 39 buildings of the No.2 Island of the Ocean Flower Island , an artificial archipelago in Danzhou , South China’s Hainan Province developed by China’s debt-ridden Evergrande Group will be repurposed. Vietnam’s second-biggest listed developer, No Va Land , is firing staff and seeking urgent asset sales.