Press Release

HotelsCombined.com Price Index™ Insights into Chinese New Year 2011

Sydney, Australia, 25 January 2011 – Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year as it is also known, falls on February 3 this year. So, if you’ve broken your New Year’s resolution already, here is your chance to make amends. To help travelers hop into the Year of the Rabbit, HotelsCombined.com has released the HotelsCombined.com Price Index™ giving insights into countries and cities with significant Chinese populations to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival.

Trends show a continued rise in popularity across top Chinese populated countries including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam for Chinese New Year 2011. One exception to this, in the South-East Asia region, is Singapore, which has experienced the largest year-on- year average price increase for hotel rooms.

Country	Year	Popularity Increase / Decrease	Average Night Rate ($ USD)	Average Rate Increase / Decrease	Average Length of Stay
China	2010 2011	22%	$98 $109	11%	6 nights 6 nights
Hong Kong	2010 2011	9%	$107 $131	22%	5 nights 4 nights
Indonesia	2010 2011	10%	$100 $128	28%	6 nights 7 nights
Malaysia	2010 2011	6%	$90 $104	16%	5 nights 4 nights
Philippines	2010 2011	58%	$96 $82	-15%	6 nights 7 nights
Singapore	2010 2011	-12%	$117 $153	31%	5 nights 4 nights
Taiwan	2010 2011	74%	$96 $109	14%	6 nights 3 nights
Vietnam	2010 2011	91%	$90 $81	-10%	6 nights 8 nights

Yury Glikin, Director of Business Development for HotelsCombined.com, said, “The rising popularity of Chinese speaking countries as tourist destinations is coming at a higher cost to travelers, with hoteliers upping prices to take advantage of increasing travel throughout the Chinese New Year period.”

The steepest increase in room rates is seen in Singapore by 31% year-on-year (to US $153). Indonesia grew by 28% (to US $128), with other destinations also experiencing average nightly price rises; 22% in Hong Kong (to US $131), 16% in Malaysia (to US $104), 14% in Taiwan (to US $109) and 11% in China (to US $109). Travelers to the Philippines and Vietnam will have a little extra money to put in their red envelopes this year, as the average price of a room has dropped in the Philippines by 15% (to US $82) and in Vietnam by 10% (to US $81), both of which are experiencing extended guest stays.

“Although the Lunar New Year is one of the biggest annual celebrations in Asia, you can enjoy the festivities all around the world. Several major cities with large Chinese populations have experienced a substantial price drop in average hotel rates from last year,” added Glikin.

City	Year	Popularity Increase / Decrease	Average Night Rate ($USD)	Average Rate Increase/Decrease	Average Length of Stay
London	2010 2011	-53%	$158 $141	-11%	5 6
Melbourne	2010 2011	-59%	$154 $150	-3%	4 7
New York City	2010 2011	-49%	$174 $153	-12%	4 6
San Francisco	2010 2011	-53%	$97 $119	23%	4 5
Sydney	2010 2011	-62%	$167 $176	5%	5 6
Toronto	2010 2011	-74%	$105 $89	-15%	3 13
Vancouver	2010 2011	18%	$414 $122	-71%	9 8

Vancouver, host city to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, experienced the steepest average price decrease of 71% (to US $122), whilst a 15% drop in Toronto (to US $89) also contributed to a longer than average stay of 13 nights. Other noticeable changes were New York City, which dropped by 12% (to US $153) and London, which fell by 11% (to US $141). This year, however, travelers will be paying more in Sydney, which is up 5% (to US $176) and San Francisco up 23% (to US $119).

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