Drop in China holidays does not come unexpected

via WikipediaDanny Levinson at BDL-media points at my earlier entry about the expected drop in tourists visiting China in its Olympic year. The news does not come as a surprise, he says, quoting the CFO of Ctrip.com:

I heard the Ctrip.com CFO speak a few weeks ago and she said the company might see a drop in revenue during the Olympic quarter and hotels under the IHG, Starwood, and Marriott brands won't see an uptick in their numbers either. Yes, the couple of weeks during the Olympics room rates will increase dramatically, but this will not offset the loss of income from the few weeks before and few weeks afterwards where tourists typically stay away from Olympic cities. Plus, with most 4- and 5-star hotels making up to 40% of their revenue from MICE, and F&B accounting for up to 30%, that is a BIG hit to these hotels who might only rely on rooms to create up to 50% of their revenue.

The ongoing rioting in China is of course another deterrent in the period when many European are planning their summer holidays. I guess the main benefit of having the Olympics is an increasing branding of a country as a holiday destination. We still have to see whether China will benefit from that.