The Australian hotel market may be mature, but Accor remains confident of its growth potential with the expansion of its Asian portfolio to play a key role.
Speaking to media at yesterday's World of Accor event in Sydney, Accor Asia Pacific chief operating officer Michael Issenberg highlighted the APAC region as the fastest growing for the hotel firm worldwide, currently accounting for 52% of its development pipeline.
"Our Australian hotels are an important driver of Accor's global success and represent over 36% of our Asia Pacific network," Issenberg said.
"Obviously Australia has a mature hotel market but, as our acquisition of Mirvac in 2011 showed, there are still growth opportunities here."
While the majority of Accor's growth is taking place in emerging markets such as China and Indonesia, the increasing strength of its Asia portfolio caters to brand loyal Australian travellers and acts as a driver for inbound tourism to Australia, according to Issenberg.
"By 2030, two thirds of the global middle class will be in Asia Pacific and Australia stands to benefit from this enormously," he said.
""This growth in disposable income, coupled with an explosion of air connectivity between Asia and Australia, including the imminent launch of Air India services later this month, is absolutely key to tourism growth in Australia."
The strength of its brands, locally-relevant distribution channels and its loyalty programs will all play a part in attracting Asian visitors to its Australian properties, he added.
