Hospitality, retail to drive PH property sector in ‘23

Real estate services firm Santos Knight Frank (SKF) is optimistic about the outlook for the Philippine property sector this year, driven by the hospitality and retail sectors.

SKF chairman and chief executive officer Rick Santos said retails and hotels are the fastest-recovering property sectors in the country amid the easing of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) restrictions and the increased mobility.

“Brick-and-mortar retail and hotels were some of the most severely affected real estate sectors during the pandemic. Now that travel and mobility restrictions have been lifted, we are seeing the resurgence and ‘unfreezing’ not just of market activity but also development and expansion of players in these sectors,” he said.

Santos said the hospitality property sector will continue to recover this year with the return of international flights and China’s relaxing of its Covid-19 policy.

“So we’re seeing revenge travel,” he added.

The Department of Tourism aims to lure 4.8 million international visitors this year, with Chinese tourists among the agency’s priorities.

In 2019, there were more than 1.78 million arrivals here from China. These Chinese tourists