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1. UN declares international travel fully recovered
UN Tourism declared global tourism has fully recovered to pre-pandemic peaks, and CNBC reports this marks "a new age of global growth."
UN Tourism announced last week that a total of 1.1 billion people traveled in the first three quarter of 2024, with The Middle East the strongest performer among global regions — up 29% compared to 2019.
“The strong growth seen in tourism receipts is excellent news for economies around the world," said UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. "The fact that visitor spending is growing even stronger than arrivals has a direct impact on millions of jobs and small businesses and contributes decisively to the balance of payments and tax revenues of many economies.”
2. A look at the Hotel Del Coronado restoration
The historic Hotel Del Coronado has long been a favorite stop for Hollywood elite, and The Hollywood Reporter recently took a look at the multiyear restoration efforts at the property that is slated to finish early next year.
Architect David Marshall of Heritage Architecture & Planning told the news outlet his firm's work focused on bringing the 136-year-old property back to its original glory.
“One of our jobs was to reverse some of the previous remodels — especially in the ’40s through the ’70s — that were detracting from that pure Victorian feel,” he said.
3. Construction lending still difficult for hotels
While interest rates and room demand are both trending in a positive direction, financing is still hard to come by for hotel developers in part because the costs of buying are still lower than building, HNN contributor Danny King reports.
Another part of the problem is typical construction lenders remain largely on the sidelines.
“On the banking level, we’re seeing a lot of regional and local banks that have been the backbone of construction lending constrained on liquidity right now,” said Ryan Bosch, principal at Scottsdale, Arizona-based Arriba Capital.
4. Malaysian REIT buys two hotels in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia-based Pavilion REIT Management has announced it is spending 480 million Malaysian Ringgit ($108.5 million) to buy two hotels in its home country's capital of Kuala Lumpur, HNN's Terence Baker reports.
The two properties are the 55-room Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur and the 325-room Pavilion Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
The hotels were sold by Lumayan Indah Sdn Bhd and Harmoni Perkasa Sdn Bhd, respectively. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
5. Chinese officials plan for more stimulus
CNBC reports Chinese officials have promised "more proactive" fiscal stimulus along with "moderately" looser monetary policy to reignite the country's economy and get back to a target of "around 5%" gross domestic product growth.
The country has been trying to cope with a residential real estate crisis this year.
“We must affirm the confidence” and “actively build an external environment that is favorable to us,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said.