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Singapore’s hospitality industry benefitted from the US-North Korea Summit held at Sentosa Island and the hit movie “Crazy Rich Asians”, reported Bloomberg.
Following the historic summit in June and the romantic comedy’s premieres in Los Angeles and Singapore on 7 and 22 August respectively, average hotel occupancy rate in the city-state reached a 10-year high of 87 percent for the month of August, with occupancy levels increasing at different categories of hotels – economy, mid-tier, upscale and luxury, according to property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.
The successful “Crazy Rich Asians” movie provided a global spotlight on iconic Singapore hotels and developments, such as Marina Bay Sands and Raffles Hotel. The latter is where the gin-based cocktail Singapore Sling was invented, and is slated to reopen in 2019 following a renovation.
Aside from that, tourist arrivals in the city-state surged to a monthly record of 1.7 million in July thanks to major events held this year. These include the Singapore Airshow 2018 and the 33rd ASEAN Summit.
According to RHB Research Institute analyst Vijay Natarajan, Singapore’s hospitality industry is currently in a “sweet spot”.
In fact, revenue per available RevPAR grew 4.0 percent year-on-year to $190.40 in October after years of declines, with OCBC Investment Research expecting RevPAR to rise significantly in Q4 2018 and next year.
Another positive for the industry is that the new supply of hotel rooms is forecasted by Cushman to slow down to an average of 764 rooms per annum between 2018 and 2022 versus the 3,357 hotel rooms that came on stream between 2014 to 2017.
“Visitor arrivals have started to trend upwards in recent years,” driven by a larger influx of tourist from China, Indonesia and India, added Zhang Jiahao, a consultant with CBRE Hotels Asia Pacific.
“Backed by increased flight and cruise connectivity to Singapore, visitor growth is projected to remain strong in the coming years.”
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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