Hotel investors expected to focus on Asia this year
Hotel investors expected to focus on Asia this year
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Singapore
International hotel investors are forecast to focus on Asia this year with the region viewed as offering strong growth potential, a Jones Lang LaSalle survey indicated on Thursday.
"The liquidity of the Asian hotel market has accelerated over the past two years, reaching record levels in 2004," said the report authored by Scott Hetherington, managing director of JLL Hotels.
The Dec. 26 tsunami is expected to result in a slight decline in tourism with Thailand's target this year lowered from 13.4 million to 12 million, according to the report published in The Business Times.
"Despite this, the outlook for Bangkok's tourism and hotel market remains positive," JLL said, evidenced by continued announcement of new airline services and hotel development projects.
Even in Phuket, which was lashed by the earthquake-spawned killer waves, analysts expect a strong and speedy rebound by the second half of this year, driven by discounting, marketing initiatives and a quick resumption of air services.
Arrivals in Malaysia this year are projected to exceed 16 million with average occupancy possibly rising to 75 percent.
As of November last year, official statistics for international arrivals had reached 14.4 million, a 36.1 percent increase over the previous full year.
"Strong growth in international arrivals and better economic sentiment allowed occupancy in five-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur to increase by 9.3 percent to 70.8 percent, while the average daily rate remained stable," JLL said.
"Hotel investment in Indonesia remains challenging and relatively opaque," the report said.
It cited a strong recovery in international arrivals on the island of Bali last year where a terrorist attack in 2003 devastated a popular nightspot among Westerners.
"Tourists are more confident of their safety in Bali than Jakarta," JLL said, "adversely affected by security concerns, travel warnings and increased visa regulations."
"Although the recent peaceful elections have improved sentiment, we expect supply additions to outweight demand growth over the medium term," it added.
Malaysia topped a list of five countries in international arrivals last year, with 14.4 million, a 36.1 percent increase over the previous year, followed by Thailand, with 12.4 million arrivals, a 23 percent hike over 2003.
Singapore's 8.3 million represented a 36 percent increase, Indonesia's 5.3 million a 19.1 percent rise, and Australia's 5.2 million a 9.9 percent jump over 2003.