Following the collapse of the Russian ruble in the second half of 2014, the Russian hotel market has seen significant negative changes, with average room rates falling by 20.1% per year. STR Global has analyzed the state of the Russian hotel industry over the last 4 years and the first 8 months of this year in particular, and reported good news - the market has stabilized!
STR Global is the leading provider of global hotel data, covering daily and monthly performance indicators, forecasts, annual profitability indicators, industry development data and hotel registry information.
It is worth noting that Average occupancy rate of Russian hotels fell in 2014 by 15.3% along with a fall in the exchange rate by 5.7%. The sector's performance began to recover only in 2016, when the revenue per room (RevPAR) increased by 24.0% compared to the 2014 level. As a result, this significant indicator is only 0.6% was below the level RevPAR at the end of 2013 (a year before the crash).
In 2017 The situation began to look even more positive, as industry indicators improved even compared to the pre-crisis period: RevPAR for the first 8 months was 9.3% higher than in 2013.
The main driver of the industry's growth has been domestic tourism, which in turn is driven by the weakening of the ruble and restrictions on foreign travel to Egypt and Turkey. This has benefited a number of Russian markets, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi.
Leading directions
In January-July of this year, hotels in all CIS countries for which STR publishes reports showed growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in local currency compared to the first seven months of 2016. The most significant growth during this period was demonstrated by Ukraine (RevPAR +25.6%) and Kazakhstan (RevPAR +24.5%).
IN Ukraine As a result of the devaluation of the national currency, the average daily room rate (ADR) has increased significantly.
Capital Kazakhstan Astana hosted World Expo 2017 from June to September this year.
“It appears that the government’s visa policy aimed at attracting more tourists from abroad is benefiting the country’s hotel industry, both in terms of operational efficiency and development,” STR Global believes.
By RevPAR Sochi currently leads the Russian markets, showing growth of 28.2% as of July 2017. The second line of the rating is occupied by Yekaterinburg, where RevPAR growth was 11.8%, thanks to an increase in both room occupancy (6.5%) and average room rate per night (5.0%).
At the other end of the rankings was Armenia, which showed the lowest growth in the region, RevPAR +1.9%. The country recorded a RevPAR decline of 26.5% in the first seven months of 2016, so the moderate increase compared to the same period last year looks less significant.
"When a country's hotel sector benefits from the devaluation of its national currency, it is always somewhat of an anomaly. Although the weakening of the ruble is not necessarily a good sign for the Russian economy. On the other hand, due to the less accessible foreign tourism, the volume of domestic tourism has grown significantly. Now that the industry indicators seem to have leveled off, it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to the increase in supply. As of August 2017, 44 hotel properties with a total of 8,350 rooms are under construction," commented on the topic Director of Business Development at STR Thomas Emanuel
These and other important trends for the market will be announced at the Conference on Investments in the Hotel and Tourism Business of Russia, which will be held October 24 at Radisson Blu Belorusskaya.
Source: trn-news.ru
