Hong Kong hotelier hopes for restriction-free travel as industry slowly returns to pre-pandemic heyday across the world
- The rest of the world has opened up, and that is the way to go for Hong Kong, says Ovolo Hotels founder Girish Jhunjhnuwala
- Hotel rates in Hong Kong are about 35 per cent lower than in 2019, while they continue to rise in other parts of the world, according to data provider STR
With much of the world lifting tough Covid-19 travel restrictions, a Hong Kong-based hotelier is filled with a tinge of sadness as operators in Europe and Australia brim with an influx of guests that has pushed room rates back to pre-pandemic levels.
Founded in 2010, the family-run Ovolo owns and operates 13 hotels - eight in Australia, four in Hong Kong and one in Bali, Indonesia.
“You can see that the demand for hotels everywhere has gone up because the rest of the world has opened up,” Jhunjhnuwala told the Post in a phone interview recently while in quarantine at the Ovolo Southside in Wong Chuk Hang, adding that “returning to normalcy is the way to go”.
He pointed out that Ovolo’s hotels in Australia were busy again, with high occupancy rates of 80 to 90 per cent as the country had opened up to foreign visitors. “And in Europe the hotels are all running full, with high occupancies and high rates. This is the way forward,” he added.
