SINGAPORE Arthur Andersen released its Hotel Industry Benchmark Survey at its fourth annual Hotel Industry Investment Conference held here, reporting that the Asia Pacific region turned in a second year of robust hotel performance in 2000. Almost all cities recorded positive RevPAR growth in terms of local currency and US dollars. Nearly 70% of cities surveyed achieved double-digit RevPAR growth.
Of the four regions (Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa) that Arthur Andersen monitors on a monthly basis, Asia Pacific was the best performing market with the strongest RevPAR growth over 9%. In addition, Hong Kong led the region in occupancy boasting 82% an increase of 6% over 1999 levels.
Asia Pacific also showed the strongest 2000 growth in tourist arrivals, with almost 112 million tourists visiting the region last year. This is a 14.5% increase over 1999. Events such as the Sydney Olympics combined with rebounding regional economies helped boost business and leisure travel through Asian markets. (3/21/01)