Can CDL Hospitality Trusts capitalise on Singapore’s rekindling tourist arrivals?

Tourist arrivals improved by 3% in September.

The hospitality firm naturally feeds on robust tourist arrivals on the city-state, and tourists have been thinking twice about visiting Singapore lately.

But now that Singapore has been showing glimpses of recovery in tourist arrivals, analysts are wondering if it would also equate to a rebound for CDLHT.

According to a report by OCBC, 60% of CDLHT’s 9M15 gross revenue has been marred by Singapore’s listless tourism scene.

“Its Singapore hotels’ RevPAR dipped 6.4% YoY to S$176 for 9M15 due to a fall in both occupancy (-0.7 ppt to 88.2%) and average daily rate (- 6.1% to S$199),” OCBC said.

But analysts are beginning to see some signs of improvement, as CDLHT mentioned during its recent results announcement that RevPAR for its Singapore hotels increased by 1.4% for October this year, as compared to the same period last year.

“It remains to be seen whether this recovery is sustainable, but we are encouraged by the biennial events which will take place next year, such as the Singapore Airshow,” OCBC said.