According to analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), the Asia Pacific region construction pipeline, excluding China, ended the first quarter of 2021 at 1,759 projects/371,856 rooms, down 8% by both projects and rooms year-over-year (YOY).

Throughout the region, countries are working to roll out vaccines as they continue the battle against COVID-19. As of May 23, the Maldives lead the region’s vaccine race with 29.24% of adult residents fully vaccinated. Singapore and Mongolia follow the Maldives, with just over 27% of each population reported as fully vaccinated.

As more countries throughout the region increase vaccine deployment efforts and case numbers decrease, there is much optimism for industry recovery. Travel restrictions are being eased, traveler confidence is on the rise, and the pent-up demand for travel has led to a growing number of flight and hotel bookings.

The 2021 Summer Olympics and Paralympics are currently scheduled to take place in Tokyo July through September, and while no foreign fans will be allowed at the competition venue, the impending arrival of thousands of athletes, coaches, trainers, officials, and media persons to the country can also be expected to benefit the region’s hotel and lodging industry.

During the first quarter, 52 new hotels/10,675 rooms opened across the region. LE is forecasting a total of 308 projects/64,595 rooms to open by year-end and estimates 358 projects/65,997 rooms to open in 2022.

At the end of Q1’21, the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, has 869 projects/195,318 rooms under construction. Projects in the scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months phase of the pipeline account for 429 projects/81,113 rooms, up 5% by projects and 2% by rooms YOY. Projects in early planning stand at 461 projects/95,425 rooms.

Countries in the region with the largest construction pipeline totals include Indonesia with 323 projects/52,241 rooms, India with 307 projects/41,010 rooms, Vietnam with 178 projects/68,819 rooms, Japan with 151 projects/29,870 rooms and Australia with 134 projects/26,322 rooms.

Asia Pacific cities, outside of China, with the largest construction pipelines, are led by Jakarta, Indonesia with 75 projects/13,177 rooms. Next is Seoul, South Korea with 63 projects/12,300 rooms and Bangkok, Thailand with 47 projects/11,891 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is next with 46 projects/13,537 rooms and Phuket, Thailand with 31 projects/6,683 rooms.

The top five franchise companies in the region are: Marriott International with 278 projects/58,921 rooms, Accor with 214 projects/48,781 rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) at 157 projects/33,538 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 93 projects/21,420 rooms, and Hyatt Hotels with 69 projects/13,646 rooms.

Top brands in the Asia Pacific construction pipeline, excluding China, are IHG’s Holiday Inn with 57 projects/11,931 rooms. Accor’s Novotel brand follows with 49 projects/11,019 rooms; then Ibis brand with 38 projects/7,590 rooms, followed by Accor’s Mercure brand, which has 34 projects and hit a cyclical peak of 8,962 rooms. Marriott International’s Fairfield Inn has 40 projects/6,320 rooms and Courtyard has 37 projects/7,786 rooms. Hilton Worldwide’s top brands include Hilton Hotel & Resort with 31 projects/8,614 rooms and DoubleTree by Hilton with 30 projects/6,152 rooms. Hyatt Place topped the Hyatt brand pipeline at 23 projects/3,829 rooms.