It’s hard to overestimate the importance of Chinese investors in the hospitality sector these days. In 2015, the volume of their investment outside the home country estimated US$5 billion. Chinese investors participated in almost a half of hotel transactions in the Asia region.
China is one of reasons for growth of the Asia Pacific region. During first six months of 2016, the volume of hotel related transactions in the region added 13.2% to US$3.8 billion. At the same time, volumes of transactions in the Americas dropped by 51% and in Europe, Africa and the Middle East by 60%. Not sure in post-Brexit performance, investors from all over the world consider Asia Pacific a “safe haven”.
During the first quarter of 2016, the total volume of Chinese investment into commercial property and land deals fell down by 20.5% compared to the same period a year ago and totaled US$3.5 billion. However, China moved one spot up and became the second most active cross-border investor after Germany. Chinese are very active in Australia. In this country, Chinese money accounted for a third of Australian hotel transactions in 2015.
Chinese tourists also become a significant force that shapes tourism industry these days. In 2015, 109 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad. More than half of them picked 3 or 4-star hotels, while 17% of Chinese travelers preferred 5-star hotels. Tourists from China become very important for wellbeing of hospitality industry. For example, for Australia, China is the second largest inbound market. The total expenditure of Chinese travelers in Australia has reached US$6.2 billion.