Is China Sending the Hotel Industry a Grim Recovery Signal?
Photo Credit: China's comeback from an outbreak of new cases around the city of Guangzhou is a warning how volatile the recovery can be. Pxhere / typertitor
Skift Take
It took China longer than usual to get over its latest outbreak, even though the country takes a tougher approach than most in curbing the spread of Covid. Vaccines can help prevent another wave of lockdowns and brutal declines in demand amid a surge of cases around the world.
China’s hotel industry got one piece of good news this week, but its recent setback is a global warning for hoteliers amid a case surge heavily impacting the unvaccinated.
Hotels in China averaged a 68 percent occupancy rate last week, according to STR — slightly higher than the 67.2 percent seen in the U.S. and the first time China exceeded American hotel occupancy in six weeks.
But while this is a good boost in the Chinese hotel industry’s recovery, hoteliers should focus on how the Delta variant dealt the country a notable setback in recent weeks — and how that impact might sting even more in other parts of the world.
“It could be a scary situation if everyone starts getting impacted by these variants,” said LW Hospitality Advisors CEO Dan Lesser. “If you do have government shutdowns again, whether it’s state or federal, it’s going to be horrific.”
China’s hotel recovery setback since late May is largely attributed to an outbreak of cases of the Del
