Asia/Pacific continues to be the fastest-growing travel region globally, according to a recent report by PhoCusWright.
Highlights from the report include:
• China's rising travel market will overtake Japan's by 2013 as the region's largest travel market.
• PhoCusWright projects high single-digit growth for the overall Asia/Pacific travel market through 2013, when it will reach $357 billion—a 64% increase over 2009.
• Online gross bookings in the region will grow twice as fast as the total travel market to comprise 25% of the total market by 2013.
• Online travel agencies will be the fastest-growing online distribution channel, but the region's local incumbents will face greater competition from global online agencies and supplier websites.
More American travelers are expected to hit the road this Labor Day weekend than in the past three years, and hoteliers already are reaping the benefits, reports HotelNewsNow.com’s Patrick Mayock.
AAA Travel projects 33 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from their homes during the Labor Day holiday weekend, a 2.9% increase from the 32.1 million people who traveled last year. The increase will help fuel a 4% increase in average daily rate to $154 at AAA 3-diamond hotels compared to $148 last year, the automobile association reported. Travelers planning to stay at 2-diamond hotels can expect to pay 6% more at an average cost of $117 per night.
Las Vegas, New York and Atlanta are the most popular U.S. hotel destinations by absolute search share rank, according to data from meta-search engine Kayak. Holiday-weekend hotel rates in each city as of Wednesday were averaging $183.74, $275.63 and $204.21, respectively, the search engine reported.
Despite a drop in occupancy, Scottish hotels performed better in June than the rest of the United Kingdom, according to a report by PKF.
BBC is reporting PKF’s monthly hotel survey found occupancy rates in Scotland fell by 1.4%, but this was considerably better than other areas of the country, where occupancy dropped at a faster rate.
The survey also indicated Scotland was the only part of the U.K. where rooms yield increased.
News of the rising middle class in Brazil and its desire to travel globally has been welcomed by hoteliers around the world. However, economic conditions might be putting a damper on Brazilian outbound travel.
Consumer confidence in Brazil fell for the fourth consecutive month in August, as Brazilians grew increasingly dissatisfied with current economic conditions, a closely watched survey of consumer sentiment showed on Friday, Reuters reports.
Brazil's consumer confidence index fell to 120.4 in July from 121.6 in the prior month after seasonal adjustments, private research institute Fundação Getúlio Vargas said Friday. This is the lowest figure since February.
The share of consumers who consider economic conditions as "good" fell to 23.9% from 25.2%, and the share of those who see conditions as "bad" rose to 22.9% from 20.6%.
In its second announcement of a U.S. hotel sale this week, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide reported it sold the W Los Angeles—Westwood to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust for $125 million.
As part of the sale, Pebblebrook has agreed to continue with the planned property renovations to expand and re-define the hotel’s Living Room, bar and public spaces. Starwood Hotels has entered into a 40-year management agreement to continue operating the hotel under the W flag.
Compiled by Stephanie Wharton.
- PhoCusWright projects high single-digit growth for the overall Asia/Pacific travel market through 2013, when it will reach $357 billion—a 64% increase over 2009.
- Online gross bookings in the region will grow twice as fast as the total travel market to comprise 25% of the total market by 2013.
- Online travel agencies will be the fastest-growing online distribution channel, but the region's local incumbents will face greater competition from global online agencies and supplier websites.
