A snapshot of Hilton Guangzhou Science City. Photo: Courtesy of Hilton

The successful containment of the epidemic and the resumptions of business in China is bearing fruit for international hospitality industry as foreign-invested hotels in China report an average occupancy rate nationwide of 60 percent, while hotels in southern China have been 80 percent booked, industry insiders said.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism on July 14 suggested local governments reopen the hospitality sector including travel agencies, online tourism companies and trans-provincial travel businesses.

An employee of a multinational hotel in South China's Guangdong Province told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that the occupancy rate of his hotel rose to 75 percent and for some hotels in the region it was even higher.

"The international hotel industry in China is currently domestically driven and will remain so while some international borders remain closed," the employee said.

The rebound of the hospitality sector is an outcome of the nationwide business and consumption resumption in the post-epidemic era, analysts said, suggesting that average occupancy rate for international hotels in the Chinese mainland has already reached 60 percent.

In a written interview with the Global Times on Monday, Qian Jin, area president for Hilton Greater China and Mongolia said business in China has been the first in the world to recover.

All the Hilton's 250 hotels in the Chinese mainland resumed business on May 8 and spring and summer weekends and several minor holidays have brought a small peak in occupancy, Qian said.

"Hotels around big cities suitable for weekend and family trips are often full. Parent-child tours and other family trips have further pushed up the occupancy rate, and some hotels have even been full for more than a week," Qian said, noting that he expects a new wave of growth.

"Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, our business expansion has maintained good momentum," said Qian.

Ding Zhigang, deputy secretary general of the China Hospitality Association told the Global Times on Monday that the occupancy rate of the international five-star hotel had reached 60 percent on average and the percentage would be higher during holidays and weekends.

"Hotels in southern China which had less impact from epidemic are having a greater rebound," said Ding, noting that hotels in cities with a strong tourism industry are recovering sooner.

Some high-end foreign-invested international hotels in popular destinations such as Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, are reporting occupancy rates of around 80 percent and higher, the Beijing Business Daily reported Sunday.

Uneven resumption

Beijing has seen a lower resumption in its international hospitality business.

The capital city reopened hotels on April 29, but a coronavirus outbreak in June undoubtedly affected the local hotel industry, analysts said.

A general manager with a Beijing-based international five-star hotel told the Global Times that his hotel is picking up from a single digit occupancy rate to up to 40 percent today, which exceeded his expectation, given the fact that the hotel has over 500 rooms.

"All our guests are domestic travelers from other cities and provinces and a very few expats who are not travelers but residents of Beijing," he said.

Given the current situation, Ding predicts that the domestic hospitality market experience  a downward trend at the end of summer and it will take another half a year for the industry to fully recover.

Time for change

In face of the uncertainty, many hotel groups are actively upgrading services to cope with the new normal in the post-epidemic period.

Hilton has introduced "Hilton EventReady with CleanStay", a cleaning and service program developed to improve the safety of the events to be held in its hotels, according to Qian.

"Foreign hotels are changing their market strategies in China to lean more toward serving local guests," Ding said.