More hotels in Hong Kong

TO most tourists, the world of Hong Kong stops at Central. What lies beyond, they consider as the uncharted world. This inclination may soon be curbed as investors have started looking to west of this financial and commercial hub for their hotel projects.

The 245-room Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong was inaugurated in Sai Ying Pun on April 1. It is the hotel group’s fifth property in the former British colony.

In Sheungwan, practically just a stone’s throw away from Central, two boutique hotels are currently under construction.

Meanwhile, Novotel Century Harbourview in Western District has been renamed as Jen Hotel since beginning of March.

Even as sites are getting to be very hard to acquire in tourist hubs, investors still find a way of getting there. In Tsim ShaTsui, the 324-room Hotel Panorama by Rhombus opened in late March.

Hong Kong’s economy is in such an upswing that it is not always easy to gauge where investors are pinning their bullishness. While established hotels suchas the Ritz and Hyatt have been torn down to give way to commercial buildings,commercial buildings are being renovated– if not completely torn down – to be converted into hotels. Based on Hong Kong Tourism Board statistics, the average occupancy rates across all categories of hotels in 2007 was 86 percent, one percent lower over the previous year.