Rising room rates helped hotels in resort destinations across Asia achieve double-digit gains in terms of revenue per available room (revPAR) in February, according to the latest data from STR Global. Provided exclusively to Travel Daily, the STR Global data examined the performance of four key resort destinations across the region – Bali, Phuket, the southern Chinese island province of Hainan, and the resort destinations of the Malaysian Peninsula, including Penang and Langkawi. All four destinations achieved year-on-year increases in terms of occupancy and average daily rates (ADR), leading to double-digit revPAR rises of at least 12%.
In Bali, a strong 16.6% ADR increase allowed the island’s revPAR to jump 17.9% from US$75 in February 2010 to US$89 last month. Occupancy at Bali’s hotels climbed 1.1% year-on-year to 70.4%. Thailand’s main resort destination, Phuket, saw a similar trend, with a 9.4% jump in ADR helping to push island-wide revPAR up 12.3% to US$136, from US$121 in the same month last year. Phuket’s occupancy levels increased 2.3% to a strong 86.9%. The resort destinations of Peninsular Malaysia saw a 15.6% surge in revPAR, which reached US$93 for the month. A strong 10.0% rise in ADR was supported by a 5.1% increase in occupancy, which averaged 67.1% for February 2011.
The resorts of Hainan saw a slightly different pattern to their Southeast Asian neighbours last month, with revPAR gains largely driven by rising occupancy levels. Buoyed by the Chinese New Year holiday period, Hainan’s resorts – including those in the popular beach destination of Sanya – saw a 14.9% year-on-year jump in occupancy, which averaged 67.0% for the month. ADR also increased, rising 7.3% to an impressive US$341, allowing revPAR to rise 23.3% to US$228 – more than double that of Bali.
One much-discussed issue that all these destinations are facing is a major influx of new supply. In Phuket more than 4,000 new hotel rooms are expected to enter the market by the end of 2012, while in Bali authorities have said they have enough rooms to cater for demand until 2015, although this doesn’t appear to be halting development. The resorts of Hainan meanwhile, are booming, with recent openings from Pullman and Renaissance adding to the island’s burgeoning range of international brands. The rising occupancy and ADR seen in February however, appears to show that demand for these destinations is keeping pace with supply – at least in the short-term.
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