Asia Pacific demand for hotels on the rise

Demand for international hotels in the Asia Pacific region is on the increase, President Asia Pacific for Hilton Worldwide Martin Rinck told NBR, and hotel operators have been overlooking the business opportunities it provides.

Hilton, which opened two hotels in Queenstown last month, was more than doubling its presence in the region with more than 120 projects in various stages of development, in response to this demand increase, Mr Rinck said

"Within Asia Pacific, I think 'increase' would probably still be an understatement."

This increase in demand was due to a combination of an increase in disposable income in the middle income bracket in emerging markets such as China and India, an increase in domestic and international travel for business puposes, and a lack of supply of international hotels, Mr Rinck said.

"India today, with 1.3 billion inhabitants, the entire country has less rendered hotel rooms than Manhattan in the United States."

This lack of supply was a result of international hotel companies often overlooking Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in countries such as China, and not recognising the demand that was there, Mr Rinck told NBR.  However this may have been due to the recent growth of the Asia Pacific economies.

"If you look at the growth within China, with double digit GDP growth for the last ten consecutive years, I think China's growth only started to accelerate a good ten years ago."

Hilton operates 71 hotels in the area and doubling its footprint constituted "tremendous" development with further room for growth opportunities, Mr Rinck said.  Hilton opened 12 hotels in China this year, and has room to grow in New Zealand also, with the country reflecting the general increase in demand for hotels, he said.

The demand in New Zealand was not as high as that in the rest of Asia Pacific, since some markets, particularly in China, had no international hotels before the Hilton company.  Nevertheless, the increase was still apparent.

"Looking at the demand patterns in New Zealand, we see very very healthy demand increase and increase in business volume in our properties in Auckland and in Taupo."