Hong Kong’s surprisingly healthy hotels

Hong Kong, 11th April: Despite so much the concern about Hong Kong’s future and a weak post-COVID economy, its hotels appear to be performing surprisingly well. According to the Hong Kong Hotels Association (HKHA), the industry is still recovery, but in 2023, Hong Kong’s average room occupancy was 82%. That is quite impressive, especially given that 2018 was an all-time record high at 91% in 2018. Moreover, during the 2024 Lunar New Year holiday, Hong Kong’s average hotel occupancy rate was 93% which is about the same level as the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday.

High-end hotels performed better than the mid-range and budget categories due to the changing travel pattern of Chinese visitors and unfortunately, the government announced in its 2024-25 budget, the 3% hotel accommodation tax will return from 1st January 2025. The HKHA worries this could dampen performance, but that is unlikely to affect to mid- to high-end hotels.