REITs to boost hotel development — Colliers

MANILA, Philippines — The offering of real estate investment trust (REITs) for hotels could spur the development of more hotels in the country and address growing demand due to the continued increase in tourist arrivals, a property services firm said.

“Over the next three years, Colliers sees hotel REITs being an attractive option for developers given the sustained demand from the traditional sources such as Koreans, Chinese, Japanese and Americans,” Colliers International Philippines research manager Joey Roi Bondoc said in a statement.

Foreign arrivals in the country have been growing pace at an average pace of 10 percent in the past three years.

Based on the latest figures from the Department of Tourism (DOT), foreign arrivals from January to April of this year grew 8.5 percent to 2.87 million. The numbers are targeted to hit 8.2 million by the end of the year, a 15 percent rise from the 7.1 million foreign arrivals last year.

“The growing number of foreign tourists should be supported by rising demand for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition (MICE) facilities due to local and international events as well as a continued push for more domestic travel, driven by the popularity of the staycation concept in Metro Manila,” Bondoc said.

“Colliers believes that REIT proceeds can be used by developers to either acquire international brands or build homegrown brands,” Bondoc added.

Over the past three years, national players such as Ayala Land, Megaworld, Rockwell and Filinvest have been more aggressive in launching their own hotel brands such as Seda, Savoy, Aruga and Quest.