Hotel occupancy plummets 34% in May
The average occupancy rate of guest rooms in May dropped by 27.9 percentage points year-on-year to 34.2%, with the occupancy rate for 5-star hotels lower than the sector’s average, at 31.3%.
Data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that the number of guests at hotel establishments in May slid by 39.9% year-on-year to 457,000, while the number of mainland guests plunged by 48.8%.
Local guests, on the other hand, surged by 28.1%.
Last month, official data showed that visitor arrivals totaled 600,748, a decline of 30.6% year-on-year and a decrease of 1.0% month-on-month.
The drop occurred despite the five-day Golden Week, when the government had hoped that the hotel occupancy rate would reach 60%.
As regards the source of visitors, the number of visitors from mainland China declined by 32.3% year-on-year to 538,458, with 176,171 of visitors from the mainland travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme.
Hotel occupancy for this month is expected to rise amid the current outbreak, which has impacted the willingness of tourists to travel from the neighboring region.
Workers residing in Zhuhai were required to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival as the city has been recording an unprecedented outbreak, leading to three rounds of mass testing in only a week.
Yet on Tuesday, Beijing announced that anyone arriving from outside the country must stay in a quarantine hotel for seven days, followed by three days of home quarantine.
The hotel and tourism sector is bidding this summer farewell in terms of revenue from travelers, as well as from local residents, given that the city is in partial lockdown.
However, hotels are currently offering attractive rates to non-local employees to cater to those who live in the neighboring region.
The current outbreak is a significant setback to the ongoing recovery of the sector. In May, the tourism and hotel sector had already recorded some pickup and was expecting June – a traditionally busy month – to see more visitors.
