Bali one of the stars in Asia’s hotel boom

SINGAPORE – There is further good news for Asia in the half-year results from the HotelBenchmark(TM) Survey by Deloitte.

The survey shows that the hotel market in Asia Pacific has seen room revenue per available room (revPAR) across the region is up 14.1 per cent to US$97 – outperforming the 9.4 per cent growth achieved in 2006.

Improvements have been driven by double-digit increases in average room rates, which now stand at US$137.

The star performers in 2007 have been Asia’s resort destinations. Bali has continued to recover despite fresh travel warnings and achieved the region’s highest revPAR growth at 58.6 per cent in the first half of 2007.

Improvements have been largely driven by a 37.6 per cent occupancy rise, underlining returning public confidence – with direct foreign arrivals reaching an all time high in the first quarter.

Penang experienced revPAR growth of 18.4 per cent, driven by rising average room rates.

Phuket is also booming. Double-digit rises in both occupancy levels and average room rates have caused revPAR to surge by 39.6 per cent to US$111.

Deloitte said the island resorts were benefiting from better accessibility of the islands, due to the growing networks of the low-cost airlines.

Bangkok has suffered, though, due to security fears and problems at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. Occupancy in the Thai capital is down 7.8 per cent compared to last year, curbing revPAR at US$82.

In Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City recorded 49 per cent revPAR growth – the region’s second highest – while Hanoi grew 34 per cent.

With a limited supply of rooms and increased demand in the business travel sector, Mumbai saw the region’s third highest revPAR growth, an impressive 46.7 per cent increase to US$197.

This was again driven by soaring average room rates, which at US$253 are the highest in Asia.

Shanghai, which will see its supply grow by over 6,000 rooms in 2007, has seen revPAR fall 1.2 per cent to US$97 in the first half of 2007.

Lorna Clarke, executive director of HotelBenchmark(TM) at Deloitte added: “The growth of low-cost airlines is making the region more accessible, allowing tourists to travel more easily to a wider range of destinations.

“Ten years on from the start of the East Asia’s financial crisis and regional economies are also performing well, match this with greater intra-regional business travel and you can see how hoteliers are able to continue to push average room rates upwards.”