Philippines

According to  Lodging Econometrics’ Q4 Construction Pipeline Trend Report for the Asia Pacific region ,  excluding China , the region’s total construction pipeline stands at 1,903 projects/404,222 rooms, up 5% by projects and 2% by rooms YOY. South Korea’s government will remove its entry restrictions for short-term travelers from China . Singapore property tycoon Koh Wee Meng , via his entity JK Global Wealth , made an offer of 12 cents a share for the rest of developer Global Dragon .

Tour groups from mainland China to 20 countries have restarted, 11 of which are in Asia Pacific. Meanwhile, in China , hotels and restaurants are frantically searching for employees. During the first six days of work after China’s Lunar New Year holiday, job openings in the hotel and catering sectors surged 40% from the same period a year earlier. Colliers Philippines said the average hotel occupancy rate in Metro Manila is expected to further increase to over 60% this year, driven by a higher number of domestic and foreign travelers.

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 .

Singapore hotels’ average room rate was up 27.7% in December 2022 from a year ago to a new 14 year high of S$285.84. Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos has approved a value-added tax refund program for foreign tourists by 2024 to attract more visitors. The first Hilton hotel in Japan’s Hokuriku region has opened. The DoubleTree by Hilton Toyama is located within a three-minute walk of Toyama Station.

Macau’s Statistics and Census Service said the SAR saw a total of 5,700,339 visitor arrivals in 2022, down 26% year on year. Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced a Hyatt affiliate entered into a management agreement with a Mori Building affiliate for Hotel Toranomon Hills. The Rydges Melbourne is undergoing a complete transformation and will re-open in Autumn 2023, positioned as a flagship property for the group.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the country has decided to resume outbound group travel to selected countries including Sri Lanka early next month. The Philippines Dept. of Tourism said it is aiming to attract 4.8 million foreign visitors in 2023, almost double the 2.6 million in 2022. The initial goal in 2022 was 1.7 million arrivals. Sri Lanka Tourism is looking at attracting 1.5 million tourist arrivals for 2023. They are optimistic about achieving revenue of US$2.8 billion from tourism for this year.

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.

STR reported China hotel RevPAR rose 6.9% year over year the week ended January 7. RevPAR, when compared to the same week in 2019, was down -39.6%. While the Macao Government Tourism Office is predicting visitor arrivals of just 50,000 a day for Chinese New Year week, hotel room rates across Macau are said to be surging with standard rooms now regularly priced above HK$8,000. Colliers International said they are expecting hotels in the Philippines will complete some 3,900 rooms, a record high for developers , as they anticipate the projected recovery in global travel in 2023.

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.

Colliers is recommending developers in the Philippines line up various hotel projects in order to capture the surge in local and foreign tourists. Alliance Global Group, Inc. will accelerate expansion plans in the Philippines as they bet on a second wave of spending with the expected opening of the Chinese economy. The Clarks Hotels & Resorts strengthened its international footprint by opening Clarks Exotica Kamadhoo Maldives .