Hotel revenues could halve, warns S&P, as conference participants, tourists give protest-hit Hong Kong a miss

The rates hotels offer to host meetings, conferences and exhibitions are down by more than a quarter as events are cancelled or postponed

In some cases, occupancy of hotels in protest-hit areas has fallen to 20 per cent, according to hoteliers and industry observers

Reading Time:3 minutes

Protests have ravaged Hong Kong for more than four months, deterring tourists and inflicting huge pain on the hotel sector. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:30am, 14 Oct 2019Updated: 11:06am, 14 Oct 2019

Hotel owners are facing the grim prospect of their revenues being halved as conferences and exhibitions have either been cancelled or postponed and tourists are choosing to staying away from Hong Kong amid escalating social unrest.

The hotel segment will bear the brunt of the impact, says S&P Global Ratings.

“Hotel owners are facing a 50 per cent drop in revenues, given August’s occupancy rate fell to 66 per cent and could further drop,” the ratings agency said in a recently released report.

In some cases, occupancy of hotels in protest-hit areas has fallen to 20 per cent, according to hoteliers and industry observers, forcing operators to slash rates to lure guests.

“We have heard testimonies that certain hotels saw their number of check-ins fall to five to six rooms per day in the days where protests hit the hardest,” said Simon Haven, senior analyst at Euromonitor International.

Tourists arrivals fell nearly 40 per cent in August from a year earlier. Photo: Felix Wong

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x