Tracking Peru's recovery

On 16 March, Peru imposed one of the earliest, strictest, and longest lockdowns in Latin America to stop the spread of COVID-19. The county's borders were shut, curfews were imposed, and residents were only permitted to leave their homes for essential goods. Additionally, government response and initiatives led Peru’s hotel performance to stand out in comparison with the rest of Latin America.

A deep dive into Peru

Although occupancy was slightly lower than June, Peru continued to post the region’s highest occupancy level in July due to government initiatives. The country’s ADR and RevPAR levels, however, were the lowest for any month on record in STR’s Peru database.

Lima, among all Latin America key cities, posted the highest occupancy in July. The occupancy of open hotels in the city sat as high as 56%.

Lima: Where does recovery stand?

Lima has seen steady occupancy increases due to the government initiative “Apoyo Solidario.” For the week ending 27 June, the market posted a 62.4% occupancy level, its highest weekly occupancy level since March. For comparison, the regional market posted a 13.5% occupancy for the week ending 27 June, its lowest weekly occupancy level since April.

Has future development been affected?

Peru still shows a considerable amount of pipeline projects; however, many have been shelved since the beginning of the year because of the pandemic. Although the market has 5,626 projects in the various phases of the pipeline, 479 projects have been abandoned this year.

At the time of writing, 2,175 projects are in construction. However, with uncertainty remaining around the pandemic, and many projects still in the planning phase, we could see a decrease in that number.

Conclusion: Where is Peru in the recovery cycle?

Most hotels will be reopened in the next two months. Although there are many uncertainties, domestic business demand might have returned, however, international and group demand are unlikely to return soon as controls over movement of people remain in place.

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