Latest news with #Gerow
The Star
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Tourism trends shift as Canada gains popularity with travellers
Toronto, the largest city in Canada by population, has lots of attractions for tourists. — Pixabay French hotel group Accor said Canada is gaining traction as a tourist destination as travellers increasingly avoid the United States for holidays. Canada is benefiting from this influx of travellers, chief financial officer Martine Gerow said on a call with reporters, adding that Canadians are also scaling back travel to the US. Evidence is mounting that lucrative transatlantic travel may be at risk as European visitors avoid the US amid a larger shift in anti-American sentiment and US tourists rein in spending. Chief executive officer Sebastien Bazin warned earlier that Accor's forward hotel bookings from Europe to the US this summer are down 25%. Arrivals of non-citizens to the US by plane dropped almost 10% in March from a year earlier, the US's International Trade Administration data shows. The pullback could cost the US economy almost US$90bil (RM389.3bil) in 2025, Goldman Sachs Group estimates. 'The good news is, if they don't go to the US they usually end up going somewhere where Accor is present,' Gerow said. Accor reported first-quarter revenue of €1.35bil (RM6.65bil), ahead of the average analyst estimate, and confirmed its medium-term growth outlook. Demand was sustained through April and May, though visibility is limited beyond that, Gerow added. Revenue per available room – a key measure of profitability – rose 5% in the first quarter, according to a recent statement. Meanwhile, the Philippines is planning to issue digital nomad visas to attract foreigners who are working remotely and boost tourism. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr issued an order allowing the Department of Foreign Affairs to issue the visas valid for a maximum period of one year. Foreigners who will apply for the visas must show proof of sufficient income, and must be from a country that offers a similar visa to Philippine nationals. The Philippines adds to countries that have offered remote work visa schemes, even with a recent push for return to offices. Foreign tourist arrivals have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, although tourism revenue has bounced back. Tourism contributed 8.6% to Philippine economic output in 2023, according to government data. – Bloomberg
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Accor Says April Bookings Have Rebounded: No ‘Cracks in Demand'
Accor, the Paris-based hotel operator, reported solid first-quarter performance despite broader economic concerns related to recent U.S. trade policies. "We're not seeing cracks in demand," said Martine Gerow, chief financial officer, on an earnings call Thursday. "We feel good about how April and May are trending." While March performance softened compared to January and February, Gerow attributed this primarily to calendar shifts, notably Easter moving to April this year, which created a temporary headwind. April bookings had rebounded and "are back to positive territory," particularly in popular French spots like Paris and Provence, the CFO said. Accor's "visibility is limited beyond May," Gerow said, because most of its hotel reservations are non-refundable. Hotels are also often booked more last-minute than flights and trains are. Accor Group CEO Sébastien Bazin said on April 1 that the company had seen a 25% drop in European bookings to the U.S. this summer. When an analyst asked Gerow about this, she said things didn't ultimately turn out as dire as that overall. Accor "saw softness in March, with overall European bookings to the U.S. down about 10%." However, demand from some European countries, such as Germany, Denmark, the U.K., and France had higher double-digit percentage declines, particularly among individual business travelers. So far, the company hasn't seen much change in U.S. hotel bookings in April and May versus last year. Yet Gerow emphasized that the impact had been minimal on Accor. Americans traveling outside the U.S. represent less than 3% of Accor's room revenue, with the entire U.S. market (including international travelers to the U.S.) accounting for only about 5%. "The only market where we've seen an inflection, and it's actually benefiting us, is Canada," Gerow said. "We see Canadians who had been planning to travel in the U.S. actually staying in Canada," she said. "Some events which were planned in the U.S. are now being repositioned in Canada." That trend is somewhat positive for Accor because it has more properties in Canada than in the U.S. Some analysts have worried that rising interest rates because of bond market turmoil in reaction to tariffs would impact access to capital and financing for hotel developers, while others have been eying potential inflation from tariffs in the inputs to build and run hotels. "As a service business, the direct impact of tariffs on Accor is clearly minimal," Gerow said. "Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the situation, and we have tightened our cost control measures in this respect." All the talk of economic uncertainty had not led to any impact on new construction or any withdrawal of hotel development plans, she said. "What we do see is a bit more time, a bit of a longer process in terms of renovation, but it's more anecdotal," she said. "It's not a trend at this point." When asked about potential impacts from economic uncertainty on the company's margins, Gerow noted that Accor's cost structure is "more flexible today and more variable today than it was pre-Covid." The company has implemented cost control measures to help weather any potential change in demand, with Gerow stating that "a couple of points of RevPAR is certainly something that we can manage." In the first quarter, Accor saw its worldwide revenue per available room (RevPAR) rise 5% year-over-year for properties open for the past year, "driven by strong performance in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and the Americas." The hospitality group grew its revenue by 9.2% in the quarter, driven by a combination of pricing power and growth in the size of its hotel network. Some countries in Europe had relative weakness. Europe had overall RevPAR up just 0.6% year-over-year. France reported flattish to slightly negative growth in the first quarter. The United Kingdom saw low single-digit negative RevPAR growth, reflecting lower consumer confidence as customers prioritize savings over spending, Gerow said. The luxury and lifestyle segment emerged as a particular bright spot with 8.3% RevPAR growth year-over-year worldwide. Luxury brands specifically posted 9% growth, with rate increases driving most gains, fueled by sustained elevated levels of cross-border travel. The hotel group reached a milestone of 100 million loyalty program members last month. On the development front, net unit growth reached 2.7% on a last-twelve-month basis. Yet the only question analysts asked Gerow on the earnings call was about demand. She said: "Thus far, we are not seeing significant changes in demand trends in our key markets." Accor's Group Deputy CEO Jean-Jaques Morin will speak on-stage at Skift Asia Forum in mid-May. Airlines' post-pandemic growth will be tested as tariffs, mass layoffs within the federal government, and weakened international demand continue to create economic uncertainty. Read More What am I looking at? The performance of hotels and short-term rental sector stocks within the ST200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets, including international and regional hotel brands, hotel REITs, hotel management companies, alternative accommodations, and timeshares. The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. See more hotels and short-term rental financial sector performance. Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200. Get breaking travel news and exclusive hotel, airline, and tourism research and insights at Sign in to access your portfolio
