Assetsoft - Blog #tourism

Everyday Tourism and the Real Estate Market around it r your post title

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 08:14:00 -0500

According to research, it was previously believed that housing prices were positively impacted by the growth of tourism around a location. But recent developments and findings show that the impact varies from place to place and also depends on the type of tourism around the area. Yes, tourism and the rise of the hospitality business most definitely help boost the local economy and the overall GDP of the nation, but it has other impacts too.

It disrupts the lives of the locals, the price of houses increases around them, and many places are overtaken by non-local, commercial businesses to boost tourism. What are they? There is only so much space left on our lands, and with the advance of tourism, many residential areas are being converted into tourist spots.

Housing affordability has been a forever issue in the US and European real estate market. And both of these places are quite popular tourist destinations as well. This is making it increasingly difficult for the average working-class, young, and low-income group to afford houses near their workplaces or even inside the city. The number of houses being built is much lower than the required amount.

For example, according to official records, New York had 500,000 new migratory residents between 2009 and 2018, but it built only 100,000 new housing units. Where did the rest go? Such big cities are major tourist attractions, too; New York alone hosted more than 66 million tourists in 2019. There might be enough houses to house migratory residents, but is there enough space to house tourists? Know more about how your everyday tourism is affecting the real estate market and what you can do about it.

Tourist Hotspots Raise Local Housing Prices

Many local residents stand the chance of being outpriced out of living in urban areas due to the massive growth of tourism. Not only does this cause a problem for locals, but it also causes a massive hindrance for the low-paid workers in the hotels and other facilities around these areas. However, they are used as workers in this hospitality industry; they hardly find any affordable places to stay, making it harder to reach work.

New research by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has shown that housing prices in the UK showed a steep rise in 2021 around tourist spots like coastal areas and some rural areas. It increasingly becoming a cause of concern for low-income groups.

Real Estate Being Reimagined in Tourists Spots

At tourist hotspots, real estate is being changed and reimagined in many different ways. Here is a quick view of the significant changes that are happening and the ones affecting this shift.

More properties and land allotted for hotels

Tourism brings in instant profit, and hence many real estate owners, be it building owners or property owners, are now reassigning their resources towards tourism real estate. The transaction in tourism and hospitality is quicker, and this industry is booming. But this has a highly negative impact on the land, and the effects are long-term and harm the environment in more ways than one. According to statistics published by The World Counts, tourism alone degraded more than 1,747,493 square kilometers of land to date. Added to that, the carbon footprint of tourism alone is more than 8%, and most of it is not eco-friendly.

Residential houses converted to BnB

According to Forbes news reports, each 1% increase in Airbnb listings leads to an instant 0.018% increase in rents and a 0.026% increase in local house prices. These numbers are scary for residential tenants and house owners. Why? New Airbnb properties are listed every other minute, and if the property prices keep increasing in relation to them, soon they will be off the roofs.

Furthermore, AirBnb is not the only form of BnB in the market. As tourism brings in instant profit for people in travel-friendly locations, many residential buildings are being fast converted into BnB homes. Locals are losing out on their chances at affordable housing, and the pressure on tourism keeps increasing.

Excessive tourism makes real estate non-sustainable

Though there have been numerous efforts to make tourism real estate sustainable and make the industry more eco-friendly, is it really possible? Tourism is growing much faster than the world economy and it is very easy for the whole industry to become harmful to the environment and use non-sustainable materials for construction. When tourism becomes excessive, most developers and real estate businesses start using cheap, non-sustainable products to keep up with the rising demands.

As a property manager or construction manager of real estate, you can help this situation and make it a little better. You can easily integrate construction management software like Procore to stay on top of all environmental compliances.

You can keep track of the sustainability of your projects and do your part in helping the environment even while you develop your tourism real estate properties. You can take this effort a step further and use eco-friendly construction material to build your properties and bring down the overall carbon footprint of the tourism industry.

How can we do it better?

To strike the right balance between real estate tourism and residential real estate, as property managers or real estate developers, you need to make investments in affordable housing plans around tourist hotspots. This will help your tourism industry survive and make housing more affordable for low-income, young employees of the hospitality industry. These people not be driven out of their own localities, while the tourism business can also thrive at the same time.

To make a proper plan to streamline your management process, you need to boost your strategy and leadership. Even if you are in the tourism real estate business, your C-suite executives need to revisit their growth plans and make construction eco-friendly and management more sustainable. You need to branch out your strategies to make a holistic plan to include people from all sections. You can use the MRI software to manage affordable housing, automate the whole management process, and free up your valuable time to focus on other business matters.

At Assetsoft, we can help you integrate multiple different software and also help in better technology selection in project management to stay on top of all tech trends. Talk to us today to know more!

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Canada's Hotel Industry Seems to Rebound in August

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 01:07:15 -0500

With the pandemic waning, most of Canada’s provinces have reopened using a step-by-step approach. For the country’s hospitality industry, this means more people, tourism, and revenue.

Last year, the hospitality industry was one of the hardest-hit sectors due to the pandemic. The hotel occupancy rates plummeted to an all-time low in April 2020, with 81.2% of the hotels being vacant. Now, the industry is already seeing a gradual recovery, with Toronto hotels having a 43% occupancy rate in July.

Adding to it, the Canadian government has introduced new measures which allow more tourists into the country. With these guidelines, more international tourists are willing to visit Canada for business and leisure. What does this mean for the Canadian hospitality industry? Read on to find out.

What was expected?

The sudden travel ban due to Covid-19 forced hotels to shut down or work on a low revenue. As the sector hit rock bottom, many industrialists were hoping to drive occupancy in the coming years. A study by HVS predicted a 15% rise in the market value of the Canadian hotel industry in the year 2021.

Hotels attempted to reduce losses by offering rooms and services at a discounted price. Yet, due to the Covid crisis, not many preferred traveling or staying at hotels. But, as predicted, 2021 has been a promising year for the hospitality industry.

According to CBRE, a commercial real estate company, hotel occupancies across major Canadian cities will range from 31% to 37% this year. Though these rates are far from pre-pandemic times, they are showing a gradual increase when compared to the rates in 2020.

What boosts the recovery?

With the vaccination rates increasing all over the world, more people are open to international traveling. Several countries, including Canada, have eased the guidelines and allowed international tourists to enter the country. From a surge in leisure tourism to essential business travel, many factors are boosting the hospitality industry in Canada.

Reopening of provinces

The country is gradually reopening provinces using a methodological approach. Some states are in the last stage of reopening, while others, like Ontario, are in the second or third stage.

Residents are seeing it as an opportunity to travel within the country. Boosting the revenue of the hospitality industry. A report by CBRE states that domestic travel is the key to driving hotel occupancy, with a 75% to 80% share in the total tourism revenue of Canada.

Provinces like Ottawa are coming up with programs to boost tourism. Hotels in the province are offering packages at discounted rates, especially for advance bookings.

International tourism

Canada welcomed the U.S. citizens and permanent residents back into the country starting August 9th. Lifting a 17-month travel ban across borders, the country mandated all travelers to be fully vaccinated.

Later, on Sept 7th, the Canadian government introduced new guidelines for international visitors from other countries. The measures make it easy for tourists, both essential and non-essential, to travel to Canada. Out of the several guidelines, visitors are required to produce a Covid-19 molecular test report and also be asymptomatic.

As international travel reopens, the industry counts on “revenge travel” by tourists who couldn’t travel during the pandemic. Even otherwise, the country can expect a surge in the hotel industry revenue due to non-essential travel.

Essential business travel

Business travelers from across the world want to travel again to boost their business. Many believe that their business will suffer without traveling. A survey by SAP Concur reveals that 96% of the participants are willing to travel for their business in the next 12 months. Among them, 36% want to stay in hotels on their next business trip.

What does the industry want?

Even though hotel occupancy rates are gradually rising, the hospitality industry is facing new problems. Several hotels are unable to return to the pre-pandemic condition due to the following reasons.

Labor availability

As the industry revenue plummeted, many hotels laid off employees due to the lack of business. Now, as the business recovers, hotels are finding it difficult to rehire staff. Very few have returned to their previous company and many have joined other businesses during the pandemic.

Vaccine Passport

The hospitality community is also pressing for a vaccine passport to keep its employees safe. Hotels will treat such passports as proof of vaccination, and allow customers to enter restaurants, lodges, and other buildings.

As the hospitality industry requires close interaction between people, a vaccination passport is essential to maintain the health of all its employees. As Tony Elenis, president of ORHMA, told CBC, vaccine passports are one of the most efficient ways to protect the industry from another lockdown in the face of the delta variant.

What can we look forward to?

Many industrialists believe that the hospitality industry will see a full recovery in the coming years. The HVS Hotel Industry Outlook report predicts a return to normalcy by the year 2024.

Even though tourism is increasing hotel occupancy, considerable revenue only comes from large bookings such as meetings and conventions. Currently, hotels are receiving fewer bookings from smaller groups for events and meetings. But larger conventions are generally booked in advance, hence, hotels are looking towards 2022 or even 2023 for considerable business.

Additionally, hotels are also relying on the increase in vaccination rates to boost their revenue. As Canadian guidelines require tourists to be fully vaccinated, increasing vaccination rates are making more people open to international travel.

Prepare for the rising demand with Assetsoft

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