Malaysia

China hotel RevPAR in the week ending June 10th: Up 66.7% YoY, down 2.6% compared to 2019. Chiang Mai 's tourism industry recovering with increased hotel occupancy rates and visitor numbers. New developments in the hospitality industry: Ritz-Carlton Reserve opens in Jiuzhaigou , Bookmark Resorts announces first wellbeing resort, and Karl Lagerfeld hotel in Malaysia .

The Singapore Tourism Board said 1.13 million tourist arrivals were recorded in April, the second consecutive month of more than a million arrivals. 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. 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 .

STR reported China hotel RevPAR for the week ended April 29 was up 138.2% year over year. The Association of Macao Tourist Agents said the first Labor Day holiday after lifting all Covid curbs had exceeded expectations. The General Statistics Office of Vietnam said the number of Chinese citizens traveling to Vietnam is on the rise with 112,000 visiting in April, up 61.5% year on year.

Mandarin Oriental announced that Laurent Kleitman will be taking over for James Riley as group chief executive from September 1, 2023. Radisson Hotel Group and La Vie Hotels & Resorts announced the signing of a Master Collaboration Agreement to add over 30 hotels to the Group’s portfolio over the next 10 years. ONYX Hospitality Group has signed a business alliance agreement with Walton Asset Management Co., Ltd. to manage Shama Luxe Sukhumvit Bangkok .

Golden Week started off with a bang in the SAR with Hong Kong reporting 165,000 people crossed the border into the city on the first day while more than 110,000 tourists from the Mainland left Hong Kong. In June,  SJM  will open the 271-room  Karl Lagerfeld Hotel  on  Cotai  in  Macau . The project was initially unveiled in 2014 but was delayed for various reasons including the pandemic. The Rosewood Ranfaru  in the  Maldives  is expected to open in 2027, stretched across a striking chain of private islands around a pristine lagoon in the South Male Atoll

STR said China hotel RevPAR for the week ended April 15, was up 155.1% year over year. Marriott International announced it signed agreements with Vinpearl for an additional seven hotels and resorts in Vietnam , comprising more than 2,500 rooms. The Ascott Limited , a unit of CapitalLand Investment Limited, has achieved its target to secure 160,000 units by 2023 with the  signing of over 4,000 units in 1Q this year .

Bloomberg published an article saying foreign investors are buying up Japanese hotels at a scale unseen in almost a decade , as the nation’s tourism recovery, weak currency and low-interest rates drive an appetite from abroad. As expected, the Japanese government wasted no time in approving the Osaka prefecture Integrated Casino Resort plan once the Governor was reelected and the first poll came out showing a favorable view. Accor is expanding its presence in Japan with the signing of ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza East , centrally situated in the shopping and entertainment district of Ginza.

STR said Southeast Asia’s hotel industry is seeing the return of MICE . While leisure travel has shown the most resilience in the region, much of the recent demand in Southeast Asia can be linked to MICE travel and events. The Singapore Tourism Board said the number of visitors from India rose by 3.5x in the first quarter of 2023, year over year. IHG Hotels & Resorts announced plans to expand its presence in Asia through developments in Nepal and Indonesia .

Macau saw over 93,000 tourists come to the SAR on Saturday over the Easter weekend. Macau tourism officials continue to try to narrow the gap between current visitation and 2019. Macau average hotel occupancy was about 75% in March . Officials are expecting up to 90% occupancy during the upcoming Labor Day holiday. Accor has 56 operating hotels in India . They entered the country almost two decades ago in 2004. Accor’s vision is to have 200 in five years’ time.

Xxpectations for everyone in the Asia Pacific region was the reopening of China would cause a regional surge but so far, that has been muted. For February, the biggest proportion of tourists to Indonesia came from Malaysia , followed by Australia and Singapore . The Singapore Tourism Board has signed a new three-year Memorandum of Understanding with Flight Centre Travel Group Limited aimed at driving increased visitation to Singapore via FCTG’s global network. Las Vegas Sands is expected to complete their US$1 billion upgrade of hotel facilities at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore by the end of the year.