The majority of South American and Central American cities continued to report RevPAR improvements for the first quarter 2012 compared to the same timeframe last year, according to new data from STR Global.
Ten out of 14 cities tracked across Central America and South America reported RevPAR improvements driven by increases in ADR.
Panama City, Lima, Peru, Manaus, Brazil, and Bogota, Colombia, reported RevPAR declines in local currency for the first quarter, dropping between 11.1% in Panama City and 16.2% in Bogota. Panama City and Bogota saw the highest supply increase of the 14 cities with 16.1% and 10.9%, respectively. The additional hotel supply reflects the booming investment and confidence in these markets. Higher demand growth in Panama City helped to offset some new supply in the market, and hence, Panama City reported lower occupancy and ADR declines than Bogota, as shown in the table below.
Rio de Janeiro and Cordoba, Argentina, ended the first quarter with RevPAR increases of more than 20%, achieving the top two spots in terms of RevPAR growth of the 14 markets. Cordoba, Argentina’s second largest city, reported very limited increases in supply and demand, leading to 57.8% occupancy and ARS 382.91 average room rate. Rio de Janeiro’s performance was boosted by better demand levels, up 6.1%, compared to first quarter 2011. Coupled with limited supply, occupancy reached 81.5% and ADR reached BRL 418.73. Rio’s RevPAR for the first quarter, 341.19 reals (US$ 178.02), was the best RevPAR achieved for a first quarter in Rio since 2006.
“The RevPAR increases across most markets reflect the solid market conditions across Central and South America,” said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “However, recent weakening of demand in seven of the 14 markets can be seen as an indication that there will be tougher market conditions going forward.”