STR Asia-Pacific - Market Snapshot 2022/2023
Hotel performance across Asia Pacific trailed the rest of the world on an annual basis, a result of both the region’s strict and long-lasting COVID mitigation strategies as well as its reliance on long-haul international inbound travel. It is important to note that the region is varying and diverse in macroeconomic factors and hospitality indices, and larger economy countries such as Australia, India, Singapore, and Thailand had a higher rate of inflation than some others, and rather closer to those seen in Europe.
Asia Pacific’s hotel resilience was evident, however, each time a new country lifted restrictions and opened borders throughout the year. Hotel occupancy in newly reopened countries across the region surged following the end of inbound travel restrictions, as pent-up demand and a sunnier economic outlook than other world regions bolstered travel.
The same resilience could be found in bottom-line performance, as the region realized improvement toward the end of the year. Despite the progress, overall levels came in below the 2019 comparables. Labor costs indexed the highest when looking at profit & loss recovery, coming in at 80% of the pre-pandemic level. The region’s TRevPAR and GOPPAR were just 67% and 47% of 2019 levels, respectively. Among key markets in the region, the Maldives had the strongest profitability recovery, greatly outpacing both its 2019 GOPPAR and GOP margin levels due to being one of the first global markets to reopen successfully.
The Hotel Yearbook 2023 - Annual Edition
As we have embarked on 2023, it is evident that the hotel industry has made a robust recovery from the
pandemic.
Occupancy and pricing have returned to their pre-pandemic levels. However, the future of our
industry is contingent
on how nimble the hospitality sector can be in adapting to ongoing innovation, changing market
conditions, evolving
consumer preferences, new staffing challenges, and sustainability realities. These uncertainties are
the new normal
in an unpredictable world.