With hotel rates up roughly 10% over pre-pandemic levels, some countries across the Asia-Pacific region are now wondering whether they're pricing themselves out of international consumers' travel budgets.
But Jesper Palmqvist, area director for Asia Pacific at STR, said that's not quite the case, with rate growth slowing and the general perception that many prized Asian destination have always been pricey for Western travelers.
While speaking on the Hotel News Now podcast, Palmqvist noted this concern has been particularly heightened in Japan, which recently enjoyed an influx of travelers in connection with the cherry blossom season.
"In some of those special places, it's fully booked with crazy high rates, but so much of that is in the big three: Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto," he said. "Any American that goes to Japan is, of course, going to hit those three. It makes sense. Now the government wants you to visit 10 other cities."
But the idea that broader travel to places such as Japan, which would hurt smaller markets across the country that haven't seen outsize rate growth, ignores the reality that travel to the country has always been expensive. The relative weakness of the yen compared to the U.S. dollar or euro also makes travel to the country still attractive overall.
"It's always been seen as an expensive country to go to for more people," Palmqvist said. "People know that, but they go there anyway because of all the other reasons. Now hotel rates in those key cities are more expensive, so you budget for that. And the yen is weak, so it doesn't feel that much [worse] for Europeans or Americans."
For more from HNN's conversation with Jesper Palmqvist, listen to the podcast above, and subscribe to Hotel News Now wherever you find podcasts.