Amongst the economic statistics coming from Asia, the hotel growth sector in China certainly was one to note.

Hotels.com® Hotel Price Index™ (HPI®) reports that China second and third tier cities hotel price are growing steadily. Compared to 2009, China overall hotel price index went up by 19%.

The report indicates that a number of China's second tier cities are showing remarkable growth, including Chengdu (21%) and Shenzhen (16%). While other Chinese cities are showing steady increases – Hangzhou (8%), Nanjing (5%), Qingdao (5%) and Xi'An (3%). Other first tier cities such as Shanghai (23%) and Guangzhou (29%) have demonstrated significant hotel price growth due to major events in 2010 including the Shanghai Expo and Asian Games.

Of the major Asia countries tracked by the HPI, Singapore led the price recovery in Asia at 33%, followed by Hong Kong at 27%. Major South East Asian countries' hotel prices are also on the rise; Indonesia (13%), Malaysia (17%), and Thailand (2%).

Johan Svanstrom, Managing Director Hotels.com Asia Pacific comments, "China is clearly leading the current travel and hospitality sector recovery in Asia, seeing a strong return of business and leisure demand. We are now seeing hotel prices in China's second and third tier cities growing faster than the first tier cities. New hotel openings in second and third tier cities plus investments in new transportation by the government will help to further enhance the growth in China. Both international and domestic hotel brands continue their build out and it will be interesting to monitor the future balancing act between supply and demand"

The HPI® tracks the real prices paid per hotel room rather than advertised rates. It is based on prices actually paid by customers for 110,000 hotels around the world. The latest HPI looks at hotel prices for the period January to December 2010, compared to the same period the year before.

(Figure) Average hotel prices in 2010 compared to 2009 (in USD), abridged version:

*Prices reflect real US dollars paid by travellers from various markets in the year 2010, compared to prices paid in US dollars in the year 2009

About the Hotel Price Index
The HPI tracks the real prices paid per room by Hotels.com customers around the world using a weighted average based on the number of rooms sold in each of the markets that Hotels.com operates in.