Indonesia is the most optimistic hotel market in the world, according to a new study.
The latest TripAdvisor Industry Index, which gathered 25,000 responses from hoteliers around the globe, found Indonesian hoteliers to be the most positive in terms of their business outlook for the remainder of 2012, ahead of their counterparts in Brazil and Russia. The second most optimistic nation in the Asia Pacific region behind Indonesia was India, and these two nations were also found to be the most profitable. The TripAdvisor study found that 44% of Indonesian hotels were either “extremely profitable” or “very profitable”, ahead of 35% of Indian hotels. New Zealand had the highest number of unprofitable hotels.
India and Indonesia, along with Thailand, were also found to be the markets most likely to create new jobs in the hotel industry in the second half of 2012. Thirty-nine percent of Indian hoteliers said they were planning to add more staff before the end of the year, ahead of Thailand (31%) and Indonesia (30%). Globally, only 15% of hoteliers said they planned to add new staff, while the majority 64% said they would aim to keep their headcounts unchanged. Hoteliers in New Zealand (9%) and Australia (8%) were among those unlikely to add extra staff.
This willingness (or unwillingness) to invest was underscored by hoteliers’ confidence in the economy. In Indonesia 72% of respondents said they believed that the economy would improve in the second half of 2012 – the highest in Asia, ahead of India (64%) and Malaysia (62%). Japan (35%) and Australia (34%) were the region’s least confident markets.
Globally, the positivity outlook was led by the world’s key economies emerging, with Indonesia ahead of Brazil, Russia, the US and India. Interestingly however, only 38% of Chinese hoteliers expressed confidence that the country’s economy would improve. Spain, Italy and Greece were the least optimistic countries.
“The TripAdvisor Industry Index underscores the current economic climate, as hoteliers in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America are all approximately twice as likely to report being profitable in the last six months than hoteliers in the EMEA region,” said Christine Petersen, President of TripAdvisor for Business.
This level of confidence is also translating into room rates, with greater discounts to be found in countries with poor economic prospects. In Greece for example, 58% of hoteliers said they expect average rates to fall in the second half of the year, ahead of Spain (43%), Italy (37%), Australia (32%) and New Zealand (29%). Guests can expect to pay more however, in the US, where 47% of hoteliers expect rates to increase, ahead of Brazil (42%), Russia (42%), Indonesia (37%) and Turkey (35%).
