Singapore and Bangkok – A Tale of Two Cities

2 August, 2010 by Martin Kelly

New York and Chicago; Barcelona and Madrid; Sydney and Melbourne … Singapore and Bangkok. All very different cities, all very much in competition with the other for national or regional eminence. But when it comes to tourism in Southeast Asia, there is no real competition any more. The latest STR Global stats show Singapore hotels in strong recovery mode (REVpar up 40%) while Bangkok hotels – endlessly hurt by civil unrest - are still scraping the bottom of what has been a brutal cycle.

Hotel Performance for the year to June 2010 versus YTD 2009 (US$)

	Occ	ADR	RevPAR
Indonesia
Bali	7.8%	10.7%	19.3%
Jakarta	4.9%	16.3%	21.9%
Bandung	7.8%	17.9%	27.1%
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur	12.3%	12.2%	25.9%
Philippines
Manila	8.0%	6.3%	14.9%
Singapore	23.2%	13.5%	39.9%
Thailand
Bangkok	0.7%	0.2%	0.9%
Chiang Mai	35.9%	-8.5%	24.3%
Hua Hin	4.9%	2.2%	7.3%
Phuket	24.8%	9.6%	36.7%
Vietnam
Hanoi	22.0%	-8.2%	12.0%
Ho Chi Minh	25.9%	-9.4%	14.0%

Source: STR Global

STR says: "The overwhelming message in the above table is a region in the midst of a strong recovery. All markets in the report showed positive growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) for the year-to-date June 2010, even if the comparison with the same period for 2009 needs to be tempered by the weak performance of last year.

STR claims Bangkok is an isolated example with the "the on-going political crisis in Thailand not significantly affecting the hotel performance of the Thai coastal resorts of Hua Hin and Phuket. Conversely, the hotel market of the resort island of Bali underperforms in RevPAR growth when compared to the Indonesian destinations of Jakarta and Bandung, the West Java provincial capital. Nevertheless, Bali still records the highest actual occupancy (71 percent) and ADR (US$121) compared to the other Indonesian destinations for the first six months this year.

"Singapore shows promising signs of recovery with occupancy improvements pulling up ADR. The newly opened Marina Bay Sands resort, which will have 2,500 rooms when completed, includes a casino and plenty of meeting space that provide an additional attraction and conference space to the city state. In Vietnam, the least established hotel market of the countries sampled, strong year-to-date occupancy growth results in steady improvements in RevPAR in spite of weak ADR changes.

"The strength of long-term investor confidence in the region is indicated by the results of our separate Pipeline Report available from STR Global. The hotels in construction, final planning and planning are seen, by country, in the chart below with Thailand dominating development followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.

Hotel Pipeline Report (hotels in construction, final planning and planning, number of hotels)

Source: STR Global

Ends.

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'REAL TIME - Sydney, March 30'

When: March 30, 2012
Where: Amora Hotel Jamison
Program: Real Time
Bookings: $499 + gst Early Bird

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Rachel Argaman, CEO, Toga Hospitality
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Bob East, CEO, Mantra Resorts
Leah Lipman, Area Director Reveneue Management Australasia, IHG
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Bryon Merzeo, Analyst, STR Global
Bernard O’Keefe, Group Online Marketing Manager, Hamilton Island
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Returning September 17, 2012

The date has been set for TRAVELtech 2012 - Monday, September 17.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who attended TRAVELtech: Best of Enemies in Sydney recently.

It was a fantastic event, lots of fun with a touch of controversy.

Please check out the photographs or use this link to see great 360 degree panorama shots of the conference from Panedia.

TRAVELtech is Australia's original web travel, marketing and distribution event, featuring a compelling program, great speakers and fantastic networking.

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