Global hotel occupancy falls, report
STR Global, the world’s largest hotel benchmarking company, has announced its results for the first half of 2008. The results showed continuing global trends of falling occupancy and rising average room rates (ARR). This was especially noticeable in the Asia Pacific region, with Central & South Asia (-2.9%), Northeast Asia (-7.4%) and Australia/Oceania (-1.5%) all recording less occupancy, with only Southeast Asia seeing a minimal rise(+1.5%). However spiralling ARR have caused revenue per available room (revPAR)to rise in all regions. Southeast Asia saw the most dramatic rises, with a 24.1% annual rise in ARR responsible for revPAR ofUS$125 – up from just US$100 during the same period in 2007.
The Middle East meanwhile continued to grow strongly, recording a revPAR rise of 23.7% to US$154, largely thanks to a 19.1% rise in ARR. The Middle East continues to rate as one of the world’s most expensive regions, with its revPAR only topped by that of Central and South Asia (US$160), which owes its performance to the spiralling cost of room nights at India’s high-end hotels.
In terms of cities, Beijing saw a remarkable 10.2% decline in its occupancy levels, due to enhanced visa regulations,perceived high room rates and security issues. Sydney (+21.9% to US$181) and Tokyo (+23.5% to US$181)both saw large ARR rises, though suffered from the global trend of falling occupancy.
“Demand growth and occupancies are weak in most places around the world,” said Mark Lomanno, Chairman of the board of STR Global.
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