Foresight and innovation in
the global hotel industry

South Korea - a 2013 market snapshot and the outlook for 2014 and beyond | By Steve Baek

Director at Horwath HTL Singapore
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Synopsis

Soaring land prices (especially in Seoul) and low profitability in hotel operations have historically restrained developer interest in top-tier hotel development. However, the strong hotel market performance in 2011 and 2012, thanks to the huge influx of Japanese travellers, stimulated local developers to speculate on hotel development, in particular on business oriented and limited service/budget hotel products. According to statistics released by the Seoul Metro Government, a total of 112 hotels are under construction or planned, which will add approximately 22,990 rooms to the Seoul market by 2017.