Hotels and tourism witnessed a significant increase in crossborder greenfield FDI in 2018, according to figures from fDi Intelligence. Project numbers increased 120% from 234 projects in 2017 to 514 in 2018. The sector also saw an increase of 187% in capital investment. This upward trend was among the findings of The fDi Report 2019 recapping global greenfield FDI data from last year.

Asia-Pacific attracted the most FDI in hotels and tourism in 2018, with 1385 projects and $180bn in capital invested. This was more than twice the second most attractive region for capital investment, the Middle East, which received $70bn. The top recipient country was China, with 406 projects estimated at $62bn. The UK (383 projects, $20bn), India (234 projects, $13.5bn) and the UAE (219, $27bn) were other popular investment destinations for the sector.

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The US is by far the largest source market for outbound investment in hotels and tourism, accounting for 1180 projects and $106m internationally in 2018.

Last year’s rise follows an 11.7% increase in tourism projects between 2016 and 2017, as detailed in fDi’s tourism investment report published in November 2018. This corresponded with a 9.7% increase in capital expenditure and a 12.4% increase in the number of jobs created.

To download the The fDi Report 2019 in full, click here

To download the Tourism Investment 2018 report, click here

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