The reopening of Japan’s international border, along with the National Travel Support campaign, have helped boost the average daily rate (ADR) of hotels in Tokyo beyond pre-pandemic comparables for two straight months.
According to STR Travel, the rise in room rates was preceded by improving occupancy rates, which came in at 74.8% in December 2022 and dropped slightly in January 2023 (to 69%) due to seasonality.
The occupancy rate in January was still 11.8% lower than the corresponding month in 2019, but January's ADR of JPY20,055.58 beat that pre-pandemic comparable by 14.7%.
“The Tokyo hotel market is structured predominantly under leases, and hoteliers prioritize occupancy over ADR as the way to consistently drive performance and pay those leases,” said Shiori Sakurai, STR business development manager. “Operators are cautious about achieving higher rates at the expense of occupancy and will often let occupancy growth lead before taking the steps to push ADR.”
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), Japan welcomed approximately 1,370,000 visitor arrivals from overseas in December 2022, up +11,237.3%.
In total, Japan welcomed approximately 3,831,897 visitor arrivals between January and December 2022, though its border remained closed for much of that time.
“For Japan as a whole, the greatest correlation of hotel performance metrics exists between actual occupancy and ADR growth. When occupancy rises, ADR will follow,” Sakurai said. “Recently, that trend has played out thanks to international borders reopening, which allowed a much-needed segment of demand back into the city, as well as the government simultaneously subsidizing domestic tourism. Tokyo was well below pre-pandemic levels in top and bottom-line performance for much of 2022, but there has been a clear upward trend since the fourth quarter of last year. While there is still a way to go to reach recovery, recent months’ developments have been encouraging.”
© Travel News Asia
2 Comments
Login to comment
justasking
My cousin and his family were here, and they easily spent about 10 thousand dollars in their 2 weeks on their vacation with train fares, shopping, eating out and lodging.
theResident
Here is something I posted last week that mysteriously had a nett 'down-vote':
Mar. 1 05:06 pm JSTPosted in: 1st foreign cruise ship in 3 years arrives in Japan See in context
For all those doubters that tourists are NOT here - then I suggest you check Hotel Rates for the 24-27 Match when the Sakura is due to bloom and flights from overseas.
A quick check of the 5 star Hotels in Central Tokyo will give you rates of between 150,000-300,000 Yen a night for the 'smaller' rooms that are actually left. Slim pickings by the way.
-3 ( +8 / -11