Wednesday 22 February 2012

Hospitality Sector

OCBC on 22 Feb 2012

The hospitality landscape continues to have positive developments with upcoming attractions and the opening of the International Cruise Terminal in 2Q12, which should boost the business of the IRs and cruise operators. The government has also just announced that it will inject S$905m into the Tourism Development Fund. Visitor arrivals should grow at 6.6% p.a. to reach the STB’s target of 17m in 2015. We project solid hotel room demand growth at 6.4% p.a., which would exceed overall room supply growth of 3.8% p.a. We initiative with an OVERWEIGHT view on the sector and our picks are CDL Hospitality Trusts [BUY, FV: S$2.00] and Genting Singapore [BUY, FV: S$2.02].

Continuous vigorous growth over 2012-2015.
Visitor arrivals to Singapore in 2011 hit a record of 13.2m, +13% YoY. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has indicated that the growth rate will probably lower this year, but we are comfortable with that. In fact, STB’s target of 17m annual visitors by 2015 implies an increase of 6.6% p.a., which we think is achievable. Exciting attractions are coming online and the government just announced a S$905m boost to the Tourism Development Fund last Friday. Four of the five top places of origin for travelers into Singapore are projected to have real GDP growth of >5.0% for 2012. We project that for 2012-2015 hotel demand will grow at 6.4% p.a., outstripping room supply increase of 3.8% p.a.

International Cruise Terminal will drive specific stocks.
Some of the growth to reach the 17m annual visitor arrivals target will come from additional cruise business following the 2Q12 opening of the Marina South International Cruise Terminal, which will double Singapore’s current cruise handling capacity. The cruise business will not be a hotel driver per se, because cruise visitors do not typically stay in hotel rooms. However, the gaming business of the integrated resorts should be boosted as the IRs are part of the catchment area for the cruise passengers. Cruise operators like Genting HK should also benefit. SATS should also see increased business as it will operate the cruise terminal.

Supply situation is manageable, and better for high-end hotels.
Our in-house database of hotels in Singapore splits hotels into high-end (4-star and above) and budget (3-stars and below, including backpacker inns). Over 2012-2015, supply growth for budget hotels and high-end hotels will be at CAGRs of 5.6% and 3.0% respectively, that is, both comfortably exceeding overall demand growth.

Initiate OVERWEIGHT view.
Being optimistic about sustained growth over 2012-2015, we initiate an OVERWEIGHT view on the hospitality industry. We reiterate our BUY ratings on CDL Hospitality Trusts [FV: S$2.00] and Genting Singapore [FV: S$2.02].

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