ASIA-PACIFIC hotel acquisitions will rise 60 percent to a record US$8 billion this year as investors expand into new markets such as China's mainland and India, a Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels chief said yesterday.

The region will be the fastest-growing in the world for hotel acquisitions, Arthur de Haast, chief executive officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, a hospitality property consulting company, said in an interview in Singapore.

Investors such as Morgan Stanley have been buying hotels in Asia on expectations that the region's economic growth will drive demand for travel, Bloomberg News reported.

Global hotel acquisitions rose 53 percent to US$72 billion last year as hospitality companies sell assets while retaining income from managing the properties, according to data from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.

Acquisitions are driven by "the sheer volume of liquidity in the market and the considerable interest in the industry on expectations that earnings growth are going to continue to accelerate, particularly in this region," de Haast said.

US and European buyout firms and hotel groups in Asia, such as Hong Kong's Shangri-La Asia Ltd and India's Oberoi Associated Hotels Ltd, are "actively seeking targets," he said.

Source:佚名