Eight in 10 Chinese hotel rooms sit empty as coronavirus keeps travellers at home, spoiling Lunar New Year holiday week
- Occupancy level was 22 per cent on January 24-26, versus 55 per cent on average during such festive weeks since 2015, STR says
- Health scare also means fewer visits by mainlanders to US in 2020, US$5.8 billion potential loss in spending, forecast shows
About eight in every 10 hotel rooms in China fell vacant during the Lunar New Year holiday after the deadly coronavirus outbreak triggered global travel alerts, flight restrictions and border controls.
The occupancy rate across mainland cities fell to 17 per cent on average on January 26, from 70 per cent on January 14, according to US-based data analytics firm STR, which tracks the global hospitality industry.
The occupancy level was 22 per cent during the January 24-26 period, versus 55 per cent on average during such festive weeks since 2015, it said in a statement. At a Yital hotel in Shanghai, the occupancy rate has reached a record low 10 per cent in the past week, a manager said.
The slump reflects the panic before the outbreak spread through all of China’s 31 administrative regions, prompting governments to impose border controls, while airlines cancelled flights to mainland cities. China had earlier announced a drastic lockdown of cities in central Hubei province where the virus originated, and paralysed transport hubs to stem the crisis.
“This is due to less business travel, school closings and many individuals who return home to spend the holiday with their families,” said Jesper Palmqvist, area director for Asia-Pacific at STR, a unit of Nasdaq-listed CoStar Group. Performance changes were even greater as news coverage of the coronavirus outbreak intensified, he added.
