Hospitality

Hospitality: DBSV has hospitality report. Note that Travel patterns could change in coming mths. In aftermath of earthquake that hit Jap and fears of radiation leak, believe that affected Japs may delay travelling overseas while potential inbound travelers could look to divert plans from Jap to other countries in coming mths. Believe SG could benefit from anticipated change in travel patterns in the near term, offsetting any potential weakness from Jap….

House sees similarities between SG and Jap inbound tourists profiles. Believe that visitors from China and Korea - two of Jap’s top inbound visitor source markets are ‘low hanging fruits’ for SG to tap. Add that Robust tourists numbers in Jan11 bodes well towards attaining STB’s goal of 12-13m visitors for 2011. Continue to see strong growth from top markets like China (+33% YoY) Indonesia (+20% YoY), Malaysia (+16% YoY) and continuing to break new ground from likes of HK (+51% YoY)...

Believe hoteliers continue to have pricing power and expect them to optimize rates through dynamic pricing strategies, translating to strong operating results in coming qtrs. House top pick are CDL HT (Buy, TP $2.30), Ascott REIT Buy, TP $1.38, UOL (Buy, TP $5.31), and Genting SP (Buy, TP $2.70).