Hotel Rates Surge in Markets Hosting Major 2014 Global Sports Events

[HD videos below] ASIATravelTips.com has for many years promoted the benefits of sports tourism, as it is not just the athletes that benefit from a great weekend or break away, but also the host destinations.

Today, many cities in Asia are trying to launch their own annual triathlon, marathon or similar.

At the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2014 in Kuching, the Minister of Tourism of Sarawak spoke to us about the launch of an international marathon there and the Minister of Tourism for Penang outlined his plans for a very exciting half-marathon that will take place at night, and is expected to attract over 60,000 participants and will attempt to break a Guinness World Record [see video below].

With the US Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup fast approaching, hoteliers in the respective host markets have seen booking increases of as much as 200% and rates doubling.

To measure the impact of these sporting events, Pegasus Solutions conducted a comparison of net reservations made in 2014 and 2013 for the same 20 January 2014 cut-off for same day-of-week arrivals in each region.

Hotels like the Wellington Hotel in New York, which uses Pegasus’ Open Hospitality for web services, allotted inventory carefully to encourage direct site bookings for the Super Bowl.

“We reviewed bookings made through online sites for destinations that would see leisure travel for the Super Bowl in the US, Winter Olympics in Russia, and FIFA World Cup in Brazil,” said David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. “Some booking increases were registered in destinations like Sao Paulo, which are not traditionally considered major leisure hubs. Other booking growth was not as evident because many hoteliers strategically limited room inventory allocated to third party sites to drive more bookings through the brand site. Hotels that were prepared with a website designed to sell to a global audience will have benefitted greatly from this approach.”

New York City will host most of those attending the National Football League’s Super Bowl on Sunday, 2 February 2014. Rates for arrivals on Wednesday, 29 January have climbed by +41% over 2013. This rises to +77% the following day, reaching a high of +97% that Friday, and +83% on Saturday, 1 February. Booked rates for the day of the event remain elevated by +45%, but will begin to taper as Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos fans return home.

Rates in Russia during the Winter Olympics, which run 7-23 February, were less consistently inflated. To overcome the potentially prohibitive cost of attending that includes international travel and event admission, hoteliers have worked to keep rates from being a deterrent, with many also offering inventory in travel packages. Sporadic spikes in rates compared to same day last year did occur on select dates, peaking mid-way through the games, including the 6th (+66%), 7th (+41%), 11th (+56%), 12th (+154%), 17th (+97%), 23rd (+83%) and 24th (+58%).

FIFA’s World Cup from 12 June through 13 July at various venues in Brazil, has boosted rates in already popular leisure destination Rio de Janeiro. Sao Paulo, however, has seen reservations jump by more than 200% from what would normally be booked this far in advance for stays during this time period. Rates have been comparable to 2013, which may be due to the five-month booking lead time. One day, 8 July, shows an uptick in rates equal to double what would be expected otherwise.

Data reported by Pegasus Solutions comes from billions of transactions processed monthly for nearly 100,000 hotel clients, facilitating more than $16 billion a year. The Pegasus View reflects data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively.

Exclusive HD video interview with Danny Law Heng Kiang, Penang State Minister for Tourism Development

Exclusive HD video interview with Sarawak Minister of Tourism and Minister of Housing, Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar Abdul Rahman Zahari bin Tun Abang Haji Openg

See more HD videos from ATF 2014: Art and Cultural Tourism in Malaysia, Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok Interview with GM, Building Sarawak's Tourism Industry - Exclusive HD Video Interview and other: HD Videos