According to the recent Asia-Pacific, excluding China (APEC), Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total hotel construction pipeline in the region increased 4% year-over-year (YOY) and closed 2023’s fourth quarter with a record-high 1,977 projects and 402,156 rooms.
At the close of the quarter, projects currently under construction account for 47% of the projects in the region’s total pipeline, with 922 projects/212,607 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months increased 8% YOY to stand at 342 projects/65,079 rooms at the Q4 close. Projects in the early planning stage grew 11% YOY and hit an all-time high of 713 projects with 124,470 rooms.
Higher-end chain scale project totals are up in the APEC region at Q4, with luxury, upper-upscale and upscale projects and room counts all reaching record highs. Luxury hotel construction projects in the region increased 9% YOY to close the quarter at 241 projects/46,808 rooms. Upper-upscale projects grew 12% since Q4 2022 to stand at 370 projects/83,083 rooms, and upscale projects increased 6% YOY with 447 projects/96,730 rooms.
At Q4, countries in the APEC region with the largest pipelines are led by India, which accounts for 26% of the projects in the region’s total pipeline with a record 514 projects/61,075 rooms. Next is Vietnam with 253 projects/88,827 rooms, then Indonesia with 208 projects/34,682 rooms. These countries are followed by Thailand with 155 projects/37,955 rooms and then Japan with 155 projects/30,024 rooms.
Cities in the region with the largest construction pipelines at Q4 2023 are Bangkok with 61 projects/14,915 rooms; Jakarta, Indonesia, with 50 projects/9,748 rooms; and Melbourne, Australia, with 45 projects/8,354 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, follows with 36 projects/10,736 rooms, and then Phuket, Thailand, with 36 projects/9,525 rooms.
The APEC region had 357 new hotels/57,470 rooms open in 2023. LE analysts forecast another 381 new hotels with 74,341 rooms to open in 2024 and 379 new hotels with 76,422 rooms to open in 2025.
