Room yields at Shangri-La Asia, the largest luxury hotel operator in the region, rose 41 per cent year on year in the first four months of 2004, signalling a brighter outlook for the region's hospitality industry.
Managing director Giovanni Angelini said its two Hong Kong hotels - Island Shangri-La and Kowloon Shangri-La - also recorded a strong performance, with room yields climbing 36 per cent during the period.
Mainland travellers accounted for about 13 per cent of the hotel group's room sales in Hong Kong, compared with 5 per cent six years ago, he said.
'It has been growing by an average of two to three percentage points a year,' Mr Angelini said. 'And this year looks very good.'
The positive forecast comes in the wake of a survey released by MasterCard International, which said Hong Kong would remain Asia's premier shopping destination with 7 per cent annual growth in visitor numbers. The survey projected that by 2011, 65 per cent of tourists visiting Hong Kong would be from the mainland.
Hong Kong visitors would spend an aggregate US$11 billion a year by 2011, the survey estimated, whereas Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore would each see spending of just $3 billion.
