/// Hot Topic
Boom for Penang Hotels as Higher Demand
for Rooms Expected
/// HOT TOPIC
The top hote in Penang, The Eastern
Hotels in Penang are expecting to
report record-breaking numbers
for last year, as the hotel occupancy
rate for 2013 is expected to hit close
to 70%, the highest in the past five
years, paving the way for a strong
Visit Malaysia Year 2014.
Till November last year, hotels in
Penang registered an occupancy
rate of 65.79% and the sales of
some 1.8 milllion room nights,
compared to 60.28% and 1.6 million
achieved in the same period of
2012.
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Andy Fong, vice-chairman of the
Malaysian Association of Hotels
(MAH) Penang Chapter, said the
industry is confident of achieving an
occupancy rate of around 68%, very
close to 70%, for last year.
Previously hotel occupancy in
Penang hovered around 55% to 60%
annually.
For the eleven months to November
2013, city hotels in George Town
saw a higher occupancy rate of
67.92% on sales of over one million
room nights compared with the
65.22% occupancy and 607,744
room nights for beach hotels.
have seen more hotel rooms sold to
domestic tourists, and higher arrivals
from Asean and Asian countries.
MAH expects at least a 10% increase
in hotel occupancy rate for 2014,
according to Fong.
“Domestic tourist arrivals to Penang,
for example, now comprise 50% of
the total tourist arrivals.
“Previous trends also show that
domestic arrivals contribute to
about 40% of the occupancy rate,
while European tourists dominate
the arrival figures.
“Arrivals from the Asean and Asia
easily make up more than half of the
foreign tourists,” Fong said.
“Since about three years ago, we
Singapore, Indonesia, China, India,
and the Middle-East contribute the
highest number of visitors.