MARKET REPORT
TO BUILD OR CONVERT— THAT IS THE QUESTION IN ASIA PACIFIC.
By BRUCE FORD, SVP & DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, LODGING ECONOMETRICS
Glance at a map of hotel development activity and one thing becomes immediately clear: Asia Pacific, with 5,931 projects and 1,078,179 rooms, accounts for a massive share of worldwide new construction. But the real story isn’ t just scale; it’ s that Asia Pacific’ s two largest areas— China and the rest of the region— are growing in fundamentally divergent ways. The upshot: Both strategies are reshaping the competitive landscape for years to come.
What’ s happening across Asia Pacific right now is remarkable in its breadth. India is driving project growth at a rate not previously seen, hotel owners in China are rethinking their existing assets through record brand conversion activity and luxury development is surging across Southeast Asia. These aren’ t isolated trends— they’ re converging to make this a consequential region in global hospitality development.
NEW-BUILD BOOM OUTSIDE CHINA The numbers outside China tell a story of acceleration. The pipeline in Asia Pacific, excluding China( APEC), climbed 11 % year-over-year( YOY) to 2,323 projects— a record-high count— accounting for 433,241 rooms, up 5 % YOY. What makes this especially notable is that early planning activity jumped 19 %, suggesting that the expansion still has a significant runway. When early-stage pipeline activity rises this sharply, it typically signals that developers and brand partners are aligning on projects that won’ t break ground for at least a year, reinforcing confidence in the region’ s long-term demand.
India is the headline. With 906 projects now in its pipeline— a 31 % year-over-year increase— the country alone represents 39 % of all APEC development. That’ s a staggering concentration of activity for a single country and it reflects both domestic travel demand growth and international brand confidence in India’ s hospitality trajectory. A rising middle class, expanding flight connectivity and government investment in tourism infrastructure are all fueling the pipeline. Meanwhile, Japan’ s pipeline grew 23 % by projects, with Tokyo nearly doubling its project count yearover-year— a remarkable acceleration driven in part by record inbound tourism and favorable exchange rates that have made the country an attractive destination for international visitors. Vietnam,
72 hotelsmag. com May / June 2026