The Asia Pacific hotel sector experienced limited growth in terms of rates and occupancy in 2012, according to full-year data provided by STR Global.
Last year, the region’s occupancy climbed 0.5% to 68.3%, while its average daily rate increased 0.9% to US$129. This allowed Asia Pacific’s average revenue per available room (revPAR) to climb 1.4% to US$88.
The region’s results were negatively impacted by the performance of Asia’s two key emerging markets – China and India. In China, occupancy declined 1.2% to 64.6% and ADR slipped 0.4% to CNY643 (US$102), as a huge influx of new hotel room supply was added in key cities. India was affected by similar supply and demand issues, compounded by a softening economy and the growth of the midscale hotel sector which has impacted rates. Occupancy in India dipped 1.3% to just 58.3%, while ADR dropped 3.8% to INR6,214 (US$116).
“Asia Pacific, with its 1.4% revPAR increase, saw a slower growth rate… during 2012 than during 2011,” said Elizabeth Randall-Winkle, managing director of STR Global. “Looking at the underlying factors of supply and demand, demand has been outpacing supply increases over the past three years, and demand grew 3.5% during 2012. The region’s revPAR of US$88.24 for 2012 is just short of the US$89.71 from 2008, which represents the highest revPAR achieved over the past 14 years.”
In terms of individual markets, Bangkok (+11.0% to 70.5%) and Tokyo (+10.4% to 82.5%), achieved the largest occupancy increases for the year, but this was largely due to the problems experienced in Thailand and Japan in 2011. Taipei saw the strongest ADR growth, rising 11.9% to US$189, but Delhi (-16.7% to US$142) and Mumbai (-14.9% to US$149) both declined dramatically.
Four markets experienced revPAR growth of more than 10%: Tokyo (+19.8% to US$150), Bangkok (+15.8% to US$66), Jakarta (+11.3% to US$71) and Phuket (+10.6% to US$92). Delhi’s 17.2% drop in revPAR, to US$88, was the region’s largest.