Driven by China s economic might and increasingly affluent population, the hotel business along its southern coast is booming.

　　China has become the hotel feeder market of all feeder markets and is now satisfying appetites in well-established southern coastal destinations such as Hong Kong and driving a development boom in hot new destinations such as the tropical resort of Hainan.

　　Based on both macroeconomic trends and hotel market data, the future bodes well for the entire region.

　　Hong Kong

　　Although it has been a dynamic, healthy international destination for decades, much of Hong Kong's more recent growth has been fueled by business and leisure travel from within China, as well as from across Asia.

　　"If you look at their occupancy levels, Hong Kong is in a very good position," said Naureen Ahmed, manager of marketing and analysis for STR Global. "They have consistently been 80% or above, with the only exception being 2009, when we were heading into the global financial crisis. And Hong Kong has been a strong growth market across the board this year."

　　Occupancy in Hong Kong in December 2013 was reported at 90.1%, unchanged from December 2012. Average daily rate was $246.58, down 0.6% from a year prior; and revenue per available room was $222.18, down 0.5%.

　　Despite the declines, those numbers compare favorably to STR Global data for the Asia/Pacific region, where occupancy was 66.3% (unchanged); ADR was $125.86 (-3.8%); and RevPAR was $83.48 (-3.7%).

　　"Overall, Hong Kong is just a very solid market, not just from the China side, but also from the regional Asian and international markets," said Symon Bridle, the Hong Kong-based COO of Rosewood Hotel Group, which operates 44 hotels under three brands—Rosewood, New World and Penta—in Asia, Europe and North America.

　　Those powerful multiple forces are delivering consistently strong year-over-year growth for Rosewood with no abatement in sight, Bridle said. In August, Rosewood opened its first Hong Kong property, the 695-room Pentahotel Hong Kong, Kowloon—the first international-branded hotel in the Kai Tak area of the fast-emerging Kowloon East district.

　　"And over time," Bridle said, "I'm quite certain we will have a Rosewood and New World hotel operating in Hong Kong as well."

　　Regal Hotels International, which operates six Hong Kong properties with four more in development, is an example of the market’s relative strength.

　　"We run a very, very high occupancy for our group of Hong Kong properties," said John Girard, Regal's Hong Kong-based VP of development and area general manager. "For this year, it's 89%. And that's on more than 6,000 rooms."

　　ADR is up more than 20% over last year, Girard said, and “it will probably go up another 10% for 2014." RevPAR is expected to climb about 8% next year, he said.