Mumbai

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 said China Hotel RevPAR , the week ending March 4, was up 67.2% year over year. The Bangkok Post reported that 112,876 room nights were reserved out of 560,000 available within six hours of the latest phase of Thailand's hotel subsidy program going live. Marriott International announced plans to introduce the Ritz-Carlton to Phuket, Thailand following the signing of an agreement with Asset World Corporation .

STR said the reopening of Japan’s international border several months ago, along with the National Travel Support campaign, have helped boost Tokyo’s hotel average daily rate beyond pre-pandemic comparables for two straight months. Nikkei reported that Japan will launch a project to encourage global hotel operators to open luxury properties in national parks as early as in 2024. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee announced the general requirement for indoor and outdoor masking has been lifted.

Singapore has urged Chinese authorities to restore flight capacity between the two nations to pre-Covid levels as soon as possible in a bid to improve business and tourism ties. South Korea will increase the number of flights into the country from China to 80 from 62 per week by the end of this month. European Union countries have agreed to phase out pre-departure Covid testing for travelers from China by the end of the month.

The World Travel & Tourism Council reported positive signs of recovery for the Asian travel and tourism sector with five major metropolises seeing a significant economic rebound . Macau visitor arrivals in January doubled year on year, reaching nearly 1.4 million, but a hospitality and tourism management professional has warned Macau will only see half of the yearly pre-pandemic visitors this year . Accor announced plans to open a Mercure property in Tokyo, Japan. Mercure Tokyo Hibiya will be housed within the existing Uchisaiwaicho Heiwa Building, close to JR Shimbashi and Uchisaiwaicho stations .

Singapore signaled an end to the Covid-19 era restrictions , removing nearly all remaining mask rules as well as all border restrictions for arrivals who are not fully vaccinated. All travel restrictions for residents of Hong Kong and Macau wishing to go to Taiwan will be lifted on February 20, three years after they were imposed. STR said Australia’s hotel performance turned a massive corner during the first half of 2022 as the Omicron wave subsided and governments relaxed travel restrictions around the country.

STR gave their 2022 summary, saying among the global regions, Asia was the only one to see a decline in revenue per available room when compared with 2019. There seems to be a different in opinion about how Chinese New Year is going for the Asian region. Japan Today published an article saying Asia travel hotspots are quiet as Chinese tourists stay away, but the article seems to miss the true situation. Dow Jones, on the other hand, published an article saying China’s tourism sector has recovered to pre-pandemic levels with travelers venturing out during the Chinese New Year holidays.

STR reported China hotel RevPAR was down -17.7% year over year for the week ended 12/31/22. When compared to the same week in 2019, RevPAR was down -23.6%. As of Sunday, the terrible hotel news of the past three years is just that, in the past as borders were reopened in China . The Philippines and China signed a new comprehensive tourism agreement that aims to strengthen mutual development in areas such as hotels, resorts, cruise ships, ports, tourism products and other related industries.

STR reported China hotel RevPAR for the week ended 11/5 was up 4.4% year over year. China’s Covid cases continue to surge with 8,824 new domestic cases reported on Wednesday. The state-run Xinhua news agency said authorities need to take a more targeted approach to tackling Covid outbreaks. Ratings agency Icra said they expect premium hotel inventory in India to increase 3.5% to 4% in the current fiscal year with an addition of around 15,500 rooms amid a recovery in demand.

Shanghai ordered mass testing of all 1.3 million residents amidst another lockdown, Wuhan locked down 900,000 people for at least five days, while in Macau the MGM Cotai casino resort was locked down after a dealer tested positive. The hospitality sector in India  is looking at rapidly adding managed hotels to its portfolio. Hong Kong -based Langham Hospitality Group has launched an upper midscale brand called Ying’nFlo .