In Focus: Maldives 2021

By Peggy Lee, Chariss Kok Xin and Chee Hok Yean
In Focus: Maldives 2021 provides an overview of Maldives' tourism landscape and hotel market performance, infrastructure development, workation, long-stay tourism, guest house culture, hotel transactions and investment in 2020, COVID-19 situation, outlook and crisis management.

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Singapore Eases Quarantine Restrictions for Fully Vaccinated Travellers

On 6 August 2021, Singapore has announced in a virtual press conference that fully vaccinated travellers from eight more countries, namely, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, South Korea and Switzerland, will be allowed to serve their 14-day stay-home notice (“SHN”) at their places of residence instead of a dedicated facility from 21 August 2021. Currently, travellers from New Zealand, Brunei, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau are allowed to apply to serve SHN at their place of residence. On the other hand, as of 8 August 2021, travellers coming from Taiwan do not have to serve SHN after receiving a negative COVID-19 test result upon arrival. According to the Ministry of Health (“MOH”), the list will be occasionally updated depending on the public health risk assessment. These differentiated measures for vaccinated travellers come as Singapore reaches a higher local vaccination rate. MOH also mentioned that a traveller will only be considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving both doses of any COVID-19 vaccine under the World Health Organisation’s Emergency Use Listing. Meanwhile, Health Minister, Ong Ye Kung, has announced that Singapore is planning to reopen travel lanes with selected countries so vaccinated individuals can enter the island without having to serve SHN at all and may instead be asked to undergo frequent testing.
 

Butterfly on Prat Sold for HKD980 Million in Hong Kong

US-based real estate developer and fund manager, Hines, has acquired Butterfly on Prat, a boutique hotel in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui area from Hong Kong-based, King State Holding Limited (“KSHL”), for HKD980 million, the largest hotel transaction in Hong Kong in 2021. The 158-key hotel is located four minutes away from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station and 15-minutes’ away from Victoria Harbour with rental spaces on the ground floor that currently holds retail shops and restaurants. The hotel was previously a commercial building and was converted to a hotel in 2008 by KSHL. The Hong Kong-based Butterfly Hospitality Group has been continuously reducing its assets since the early 2010s with deals involving three other hotels in Hong Kong Island. Currently, there are only three hotels operating under the Butterfly brand name after the Butterfly on Morrison Boutique Hotel ceased operation in 2020 amid the 2019 demonstration and COVID-19 pandemic.

Weave Living Acquired Kai Tak Hotel in Hong Kong to Join its Co-living Portfolios

Hong Kong-based rental accommodation developer, Weave Living (“Weave”), and an undisclosed US-based real estate investment firm have jointly acquired a hotel near Kai Tak area from a local consortium for HKD390 million. The 99-key hotel is situated two minutes away from Sung Wong Toi Station, a new MTR station on the Tuen Ma Line completed in June 2021. The hotel was built in 2019 but never operated due to the 2019 demonstration and COVID-19 pandemic. Weave would convert the hotel into Weave Studio – Kai Tak, the fourth co-living property in town, with new facilities such as an outdoor terrace, wellness facility and co-working space. Once the conversion is completed, Weave’s portfolios would increase to 700 units citywide, including the newly opened Weave Residences Mid-Level along Hospital Road on 1 August 2021. Weave plans to continuously expand their portfolio to reach over 1,000 units by next year with an optimistic view of the local rental market and the economic recovery when borders re-open.

Quality Hotel Bathurst Sold to MA Real Asset Opportunities Fund for AUD9.7 Million

Quality Hotel Bathurst has been sold to the MA Real Asset Opportunities Fund, a subsidiary of the Australia-based MA Financial Group, for AUD9.7 million. The hotel is located on a 4,079-square-metre corner block close to Bathurst Central Business District and has recently been substantially refurbished. Currently, the hotel has been rebranded to France-based Accor Group’s upscale Mantra brand. The deal represents the fund’s fourth acquisition of accommodation assets acquired in Cairns and southern New South Wales (“NSW”) after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. ResortBrokers Central West NSW’s (“ResortBrokers”) Chris Kelly, who brokered the off-market deal, mentioned that country towns like Bathurst have been enjoying high occupancies from domestic tourists on weekends and school holidays after international travel has been restricted due to the pandemic. This resulted in a shift in strategy for major investors to look for quality assets regionally that are expected to bring in positive income in the short term while remaining solid cash flow businesses in the medium and long term. ResortBrokers Managing Director, Trudy Crooks, added that the increasing number of investments in regional assets can also be attributed to the low-interest rate prediction in Australia for at least the next three years.

Absolute Share Price Performance, as on 13 August 2021