COVER STORY | by Nihat Ercan, JLL
ASIA PACIFIC HOTELS CONTINUE TO WEATHER THE COVID-19 STORM NIHAT ERCAN THE ASIA PACIFIC HOTEL INDUSTRY was riding high in 2019. Tourism from both the business and leisure travel segment was firing on all cylinders. The continued growth in outbound China tourism had created numerous large revenue streams. And there were strong expectations for the robust momentum in MICE sector through events like the Singapore Airshow and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
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Investors saw all this. Hotel transactions registered its highest recorded full-year levels in Asia Pacific, finishing the year at $12.7 billion in sales and roughly 50% year-on-year growth. This full-year performance contrasted with EMEA, where uncertainty principally around Brexit led to a flatlining of growth, and with the Americas, where there was a decline in volumes as late-cycle sales slowed down and portfolio sales stalled.
Private equity and high net worth buyers paved the way as they have done previously on acquisitions.
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