Taipei last year finished second last in terms of hotel investment returns in the Asia-Pacific region where inbound tourists numbers increased, thanks to the fast-growing popularity of budget flights, according to a survey by Colliers International Taiwan.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Taipei (台北文華東方酒店), the only lodging facility in Taiwan rated by the annual Colliers Hotel Insight survey, generated US$73,000 per room last year, the second least amount.
The Four Seasons Hotel Seoul generated US$69,800.
The ranking came even though the region saw a 4.5 percent increase in travelers, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) grew by 0.7 percent, the international property consultancy said on Tuesday.
RevPAR is calculated by multiplying a hotel’s average daily room rate by its occupancy rate.
Taipei’s RevPAP was softer than other cities as a decline in the number of Chinese tourists continued to weigh, Colliers Taiwan general manager Andrew Liu (劉學龍) said.
The nation could emerge from the transition due to its rich and diversified tourism resources that have attracted international hotel chains to the market or to deepen their presence, Liu said.
Hotel executives have said demand for luxury hotel rooms is increasing, especially in central business areas.
In December last year, Malaysia’s Cornerstone Partners Group partnered with InterContinental Hotels Group PLC to set up a luxury hotel in downtown Taipei by the third quarter of this year.
US-based Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc has inked a deal to operate a 400-room property in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) later this year, while Hyatt Hotels Corp has announced plans to launch two outlets under the Park Hyatt and Andaz brands in the capital’s Xinyi District (信義) in 2020.
Colliers expects tourism revenue in the region to pick up another 3 percent this year, saying that lodging facilities are upgrading their services and budget flights are expected to become more common.
Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur could benefit from the trend aided partly by their weaker currencies, Colliers said.
Taiwan would continue to be challenged as less competitive hotels are exiting the market amid the continued decline in the numbers of Chinese tourists, but Colliers said the shake-up is not all bad, as some old facilities in suburban areas should not have been turned into hotels in the first place.
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