Hong Kong Booming
The hotel industry will be “cautiously optimistic” for 2007, with high-end hotels looking the most promising, according to Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners executive director Michael Li Hon-shing.
Looking back at 2006, Li described the industry’s performance as satisfactory.
“The overall average occupancy rate was over 90 percent in November and December, 2 percent higher than the same period in 2005,” he said.
“The high-end hotels did very well in 2006 due to the increasing number of business travelers and the increase in the numbers of European tourists.”
Arrivals from European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, rose by 14 percent in November compared to the same month in 2005, according to figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Li expects the increase to continue into 2007.
But he maintained a wait-and-see attitude when asked about the business prospects for mid-range hotels this year, due to more inventory coming on stream.
Li estimated the supply of three- and four-star hotel rooms to increase by 5,000 to 6,000 units, raising the supply to 56,000 rooms by the end of 2007. “Supply is getting bigger and mid- range hotels tend to rely on the Southeast Asian and mainland tourism market,” he said.
Two hotels in Hung Hom - the Harbourview Horizon and the Harbourfront Horizon - both developed by Cheung Kong (Holdings) (0001), will put another 3,600 hotel rooms on the market when both properties fully open in 2007.
Cheung Kong opened one of the three towers in the Harbourview Horizon in early December, and, after achieving 90 percent occupancy, decided to open a second tower with more than 600 rooms last week.
Fiona Li, a spokeswoman from Cheung Kong, said the two new hotels target expatriates working in Hong Kong for short- to medium-term stays, with special contracts for durations of six months to one year.
Corporate communication manager David Woo from the Miramar Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, said: “We expect the increase in the number of business travelers in 2007 to balance out the increase in supply.”
Woo said business was very promising in 2006 with a 90 percent average occupancy rate, a 20 percent rise over 2005. He forecasts the trend to continue in 2007.
Source: The Standard, Hong Kong
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