One year after the pandemic decimated global tourism, Horwath HTL Indonesia and C9 Hotelworks, take a quick look at full year 2020 hotel market performance and demand trends in Bali.Bali hotels have struggled to keep afloat, domestic tourism has provided a lifeline but hotel performance hit rock bottom. Not surprisingly much of the expected new supply is also in limbo. In residences, a new trend has appeared in luxury property sales.
Amid tightened restrictions, Melbourne's hotel industry reported lower performance levels compared with previous months, according to preliminary February 2021 data from STR.Year-over-year declines remained significant in comparison with February 2020:
Mainland China's hotel industry performance showed improvement from last year's pandemic-affected Lunar New Year period, but still fell well short in comparison with 2019 levels, according to preliminary data from STR.
Hotel rebranding or conversion has been a growing trend in the Indian hotels sector. As a result, over the past five years more than 230 hotels in the country have been converted either from a standalone property to a brand or migrated from one brand to another. However, the rate of conversions has not increased much during this period. Brand conversions still constitute only 20-25% of the total signings in the country.
New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely praised both locally and internationally.
Sydney's hotel industry reported lower performance levels compared with the previous month, according to preliminary January 2021 data from STR.
The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), South Asia's largest hospitality company, reported its Consolidated and Standalone financials for the third quarter ending December 31st, 2020.
The resurgence of COVID-19 cases across Japan in winter season and the delay in mass inoculation process are likely to reduce the gains expected for the local economies during Tokyo Olympics, thereby delay the economic recovery of Japanese cities in 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Jointly prepared by Horwath HTL India and STR, the annual report analyses hotel sector performance in an exceptionally challenging year marred by a global pandemic. It's a tale of massive occupancy drops, ADR and RevPAR declines.
Hit hard by the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian hotels sector witnessed one of its lowest performances ever in 2020, in line with the estimates in our 'India Hotels Outlook' report published in August 2020.
Melbourne's hotel industry reported its highest performance levels since early in the pandemic, according to preliminary December 2020 data from STR.
Sydney's hotel industry reported mostly flat performance compared with the previous month, according to preliminary November 2020 data from STR.
In the five months since the Second Australian Hotel Sentiment Survey in mid-May 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to severely impact on the hospitality industry across the globe and at home.
Reflecting the impact of a second lockdown, Melbourne showed continued lower hotel performance in October 2020, according to preliminary data from STR.Year-over-year declines remained significant. Comparison with October 2019:
Thailand's leading resort island Phuket has come face-to-face with the reality that it is tourism high-season will not see a marked reopening to overseas travelers. In the wake of the dismantling of the 'Phuket Model' and refocus by the government on using Bangkok as a single international gateway, there is increasing alarm over the lack of a path forward for the island's rice bowl-tourism. The key tourism indicator for the island is airlift and Phuket International Airport is the gateway for 70-80% of visitors to the destination. According to Airports of Thailand (AOT) data, 121,530 passengers arrived in the month of September. This equates to just over 4,000 arrivals a day and a portion of these include local residents and business people. Comparing year-on-year data, 2019's daily arrivals which included international travelers was five times higher. Commenting on the toxic situation, hospitality consulting group C9 Hotelworks Managing Director Bill Barnett says "there is a dramatic change in the market mix where the current domestic-led average length of stay for hotels is approximately 1.8 days, while for foreign travelers it's more than double this amount. What this means for hotels is severely reduced overall demand across the island's entire accommodation sector." Looking forward to the high season when the numbers spike upwards in the four months of December through March, the high season months last year equated to more than one-third of annual demand. Total domestic and international arrivals at the airport totaled just over 9 million in 2019. Adding in high season shoulder months into the equation, the stark economic impact of Phuket's economic seasonality is reflected in the fact that well over half of the island's tourism arrivals are packed into a six-month period. Now, nearly two months into that timeframe, what is apparent is it's virtually impossible to save the high season and hotel owners in 2021 will be forced to contend with historically the lowest trading months of the year by May. Given these grim prospects, C9 is predicting large-scale job losses and business closures given there is no light at the end of the pandemic-induced tunnel. "Taking a 360-degree view on the restricted domestic-only demand, you have to take into account that Phuket's current registered accommodation supply has continued to surge to its present size of 90,267 rooms in 1,773 hotels/tourism establishments" adds Barnett. "Of this supply upper midscale, upscale, and luxury properties of international standards are approximately 25% of the total rooms."Data from leading data intelligence provider STR daily has Phuket occupancy averaging 10% with upward spikes on weekends at international standard hotels. Looking into the number though, the reality is domestic travelers are cashing in on cheap deals at upscale and luxury hotels. Given limited visitor arrivals the far larger mid and economy tiers where most of the hotel inventory sits, are experiencing even lower occupancy. This domino effect is expected to prevail unabated throughout a sustained downturn and effectively crushes the smaller properties and local tourism businesses.
The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), South Asia's largest hospitality company, reported its Consolidated and Standalone financials for the second quarter ending September 30th, 2020.
As entry restrictions for international travelers in Japan remain in place, new trends in hotel performance have emerged. Recent data suggests a distinct preference for regional destinations, helped in part by the Japanese government's "Go to Travel" campaign to promote domestic travel and help boost local businesses. But while regional markets are leading the recovery in the country, levels remain well below pre-pandemic levels with full recovery not expected for years.
STR's Forward STAR data shows that Australia's short-term hotel performance will remain similar to recent months with regional areas outperforming capital cities.Parallel to other countries across the world, higher occupancy in regional areas is especially pronounced on weekends, and occupancy-on-the-books data for the next 90 days (as of 5 October) shows a similar pattern. Data for Saturday, 17 October, for example, shows Regional Australia's occupancy on the books at 46%, while the capital cities show 26% in the metric. November and December data follows suit, with Regional Australia data sitting between 14-32% and capital cities between 8-17%. Post-Christmas is where the trend begins to shift slightly, with more Australians set to head out of town for their summer vacations.
While many nations have lifted COVID-19-related limits on travelers, entry restrictions for international travelers in Japan remain in place. However, the Japanese government has launched a "Go to Travel" campaign to promote domestic travel and help boost local businesses. But while hotel occupancy has improved thanks to this government campaign, levels remain well below pre-pandemic levels with full recovery not expected for years.
Few industries have suffered more from the COVID-19 than hospitality and tourism, and China's hotel sector has many lessons to learn. In a thought-provoking exploratory study published recently, Dr Fei Hao, Dr Qu Xiao and Dean Kaye Chon of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University cast light on the fundamental impact of COVID-19 on the sector, and propose strategies for Chinese hotel firms to overcome their current difficulties and emerge ever stronger. First and hardest hit by the devastating impact of COVID-19, Chinese hotels now have the chance to lead the global sector out of crisis and into a bright new future.