09/07/2009  KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA TO SEE OPENING OF 11 NEW HOTELS BY 2011

    It has been announced that Klang Valley, which is an area in Malaysia, will be the location for 11 new hotels and are due to be opened by 2011. However it has been stated that there are possibilities for delays due to the current economic climate, which has affected a countless amount of businesses. It has been said that officials should weigh out the pros and cons of the projects before going ahead. There are concerns that the supply would be higher than demand but CH Williams Talhar & Wong Sdn Bhd (WTW) managing director Goh Tian Sui has stated that the new supply of hotel rooms in the next three to five years would not lead to an oversupply in the market.

    The new hotels are set to be between three to five star properties and will be an assortment of foreign and local brands. Adding 11 properties will mean that 4,000 additional rooms will be available in the hotel industry. It has been said that as the economy recovers more people will be travelling and therefore the hotels will be exceptionally useful. Klang Valley, an area comprising Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs, and adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor, is a great place to construct these hotels as airlines like AirAsia offer more budget travel packages. This means that more tourists will be attracted to destinations like Malaysia.

    At present there are 103 hotels in the Klang Valley, all with a three to five star rating. There is a mixture of foreign and local brands, with a total of 33,484 rooms. It has been revealed by researchers that there will be an additional 297 rooms by year-end, 1,845 rooms in 2010, 992 rooms in 2011 and 553 rooms in 2012. Currently the average occupancy rate is around 60 to 70 per cent and it has been estimated that these figures will remain for the next few years.