The rapid growth in international tourist arrivals to Vietnam has contributed to a positive short- to mid-term outlook for the Hanoi hotel industry, STR Global’s data and analysis revealed.
During the first two months of 2019, Hanoi reported double-digit increases in ADR (+10.1% to VND 2.9 million (equivalent to US$123) and RevPAR (+14% to VND 2.2 million). Occupancy rose 3.5% to 77%, driven by a 4.1% jump in demand. The market experienced slight RevPAR growth in 2018 (+0.4%) once again pushed by ADR (+3.7%).
“Vietnam has become a popular destination for tourists, as international arrivals have tripled from five million visitors in 2010 to 15.5 million in 2018,” said Jesper Palmqvist, STR’s area director for Asia-Pacific.
“Later during that time period, Hanoi saw an uptick in supply when the metric grew roughly 4% for 12 consecutive months ending with July 2018. However, the current slowdown in development has certainly helped ease the pressure off of overall performance.”
There are 224 hotels accounting for 17,615 rooms in Hanoi. The market continues to remain full of smaller hotels, with almost 75% of all hotels at 100 rooms or fewer, and 60% of all hotels with fewer than 50 rooms. There are roughly 3,000 rooms in the development pipeline, with fewer than 1,000 rooms expected to open in 2019.
Not only has the balanced supply helped Q1 performance, but events and holidays in Hanoi have set the market on track for solid performance levels in 2019. There was improved occupancy during Tết (February 5), and the North Korea-US Hanoi Summit (February 27-28 ) resulted in one of the highest monthly ADR levels ever recorded in the market.
“The strong start to 2019 produced a positive outlook for the rest of the year,” Palmqvist said. “RevPAR growth will certainly be heightened this year, ultimately driven by an increase in occupancy during the low season and continued ADR growth throughout a majority of the upcoming months.”
