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Hotels accommodated 60 percent of total foreign tourists that visited here in 2015, down from 65 percent in 2013 to 2014, reported Singapore Business Review, citing a new report from the Maybank Kim Eng.
In comparison, that for other types of accommodation such as homestays, hostels and serviced apartments increased to 20 percent from 18 percent during the same period.
According to the research house, the decline occurred even though overall accommodation receipts in the city-state from 2011 to 2016 rose by 6.1 percent. It also attributes the drop to the emergence of home sharing or rental portals like Airbnb.
“A growing proportion of accommodation receipts are probably captured in the home-sharing segment,” said Maybank Kim Eng analysts Lee Ju Ye and Chua Hak Bin.
While the full effect of home sharing portals on the business of hotels is not yet known as these websites are not covered by official statistics, Airbnb only has a small presence here of 7,800 listings, with each hosting 39 guests per annum.
The research house also noted that rental websites are not prevalent in Singapore compared to other countries due to the government’s strict rules.
Although the Housing Board prohibits the leasing of HDB flats for less than six months, the minimum stay duration for private houses was lowered to three months from six previously by the Urban Redevelopment Authority last June.
Moreover, hotel room revenue has decreased since the last quarter of 2016 despite a 15 percent gain in total tourism receipts in Q1 and a five percent growth in visitor arrivals in Q2 2017.
The average occupancy levels of hotels also languished at 85 percent during the first half of the year, with that for upscale hotels slumping to a five-year low of 78.9 percent last May.
This article was edited by Keshia Faculin.
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