FRENCH POLYNESIA HOTEL OCCUPANCY DROPS TO 47 PERCENT

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

FRENCH POLYNESIA HOTEL OCCUPANCY DROPS TO 47 PERCENT
Overseas visitors slip 9 percent in first quarter

PAPEÉTE, Tahiti (Tahitipresse, May 8, 2008) - French Polynesia’s 23 major hotels had a combined first quarter average occupancy of 47.58 percent, down from 52.31 percent for the same period last year, according to the Conseil des Professionels de l’Hôtellerie (Council of Hotelerie Professionals, or CPH).

As recent media reports have hinted, the hotels on Bora Bora in the Leeward Islands are suffering the most from the 9.4 percent drop in overseas visitors to Tahiti and Her Islands during the first quarter. Eleven hotels on Bora Bora reporting to the CPH had combined average monthly occupancy rates ranging from 37 percent in January to 43 percent in March.

The 23 hotels reporting their monthly average occupancy rates to the CPH include 18 CPH members and five non-members. With at least two notable exceptions, the 23 hotels are the major, mostly deluxe hotels in French Polynesia.

By comparison, the 49 hotels reporting to the French Polynesia Statistical Institute (ISPF) had a combined first quarter occupancy rate of 47.3 percent, down four points from a year ago.

March is the only month so far this year that the 23 hotels reporting to the CPH have had a combined average occupancy rate of 50 percent or higher. That rate was 50.77 percent in March, but was down from the rate of 53.98 percent a year ago.

They began the year with a 44.14 percent combined average occupancy rate in January, compared with 48.43 percent a year ago. Business was a bit better in February, as the hotels combined to fill on average 47.85 percent of their rooms, but that was down from 54.98 percent a year ago.

The 11 hotels on Bora Bora reporting their results to the CPH had a combined first quarter average occupancy rate of 39.1 percent, compared with 41.98 percent a year ago. January’s rate was 36.78 percent, down from 39.29 percent a year ago. February’s rate was 37.01 percent, down from 41.85 percent a year ago. And March’s combined average occupancy rate was 43.36 percent, the highest so far this year, but down from 45.12 percent a year ago.

The five hotels on the island of Tahiti reporting to the CPH had a combined first quarter average occupancy rate of 55.68 percent, down from 60.94 percent a year ago. January’s rate was 52.95 percent, down from 56.52 percent a year ago. February’s rate was 59.01 percent, the highest so far this year, but down from 63.86 percent a year ago. And March’s combined average occupancy rate was 55.3 percent, down from 60.12 percent a year ago.

The four hotels on Tahiti’s sister island of Moorea reporting to the CPH had a combined first quarter average occupancy rate of 51.37 percent, down from 59.12 percent a year ago. January’s rate was 43.85 percent, down from 53.12 percent a year ago. February’s rate was 51.04 percent, down from 62.35 percent a year ago. And March’s rate was 59.22 percent, the highest so far this year, but down from 62.2 percent a year ago.

Three other hotels--two on the Tuamotu atoll of Rangiroa and one on Huahine in the Leeward Islands--had a combined first quarter average occupancy rate of 29.42 percent, compared with 40.26 percent a year ago. January’s rate was 27.62 percent, compared with 38.4 percent a year ago. February’s rate was 24.35 percent, down from 45.32 percent a year ago. March’s rate was 35.97 percent, the highest so far this year, but down from 38.82 percent a year ago.

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