May 20, 2020 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – According to the recent report from analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), Asia Pacific’s total construction pipeline, excluding China, expanded to 1,905 projects/404,903 rooms, up 6% and 5% respectively, year-over-year (YOY).
The region currently has 977 projects under construction with 222,497 rooms. There are 409 projects with 79,610 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, and a record-high 519 projects/102,796 rooms in the early planning stage. In addition, during the first quarter of 2020, the Asia Pacific region excluding China saw 83 new hotels accounting for 15,263 rooms open.
Countries with the largest pipelines in Asia Pacific, excluding China, are led by Indonesia, with 355 projects/57,720 rooms. Next is India with 263 projects/36,269 rooms, and Japan with 238 projects/46,667 rooms. These three countries account for 45% of the projects in the Asia Pacific, excluding China, total pipeline. Australia follows with 188 projects/35,216 rooms and then Vietnam with 156 projects/62,371 rooms.
Asia Pacific cities with the largest construction pipelines are led by Jakarta, Indonesia with 81 projects/13,994 rooms. Next is Seoul, South Korea with 68 projects/13,393 rooms, and Tokyo, Japan with 54 projects/12,691 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia follows with 49 projects/12,847 rooms and Bangkok, Thailand with 43 projects/11,664 rooms.
The top four franchise companies in the region, accounting for 40% of all projects and rooms in the pipeline, are: Marriott International, at an all-time high, with 289 projects/62,927 rooms; AccorHotels with 229 projects/47,878 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) at 140 projects/30,193 rooms; and Hilton Worldwide, also at an all-time high, with 96 projects/21,813 rooms.
Top brands in Asia Pacific’s construction pipeline, excluding China, are Marriott International’s Fairfield Inn at 51 projects/7,570 rooms and Courtyard at 39 projects/8,195 rooms, both hitting record highs. AccorHotels’ Ibis brands have 51 projects/9,895 rooms and Novotel has 45 projects/10,617 rooms. IHG’s top brands are Holiday Inn with a record 50 projects having 10,746 rooms and Holiday Inn Express with 26 projects/5,512 rooms, then Hilton Worldwide with the Hilton Hotel & Resorts brand, also at a record high, with 32 projects/8,817 rooms.
Asia Pacific is the first region in the world that has begun to show signs of recovery from COVID-19. The region is slowly easing stay-at-home orders and reopening. Each country has put in place testing procedures and quarantine requirements in hopes of boosting business and international travel to the area. LE’s Asia Pacific market research specialists report construction has restarted in the region with timelines only slightly delayed. LE is expecting to see hotel openings uptick in the second half of 2020 into 2021.
*COVID-19 (coronavirus) did not have a full impact on first-quarter 2020 Asia Pacific results reported by LE. LE’s market intelligence department has and will continue to gather the necessary global intelligence on the supply side of the lodging industry and make that information available to our subscribers. It is still early to predict the full impact of the outbreak on the lodging industry. We will have more information to report in the coming months.
