International. According to information published by JLL, 2015 is on track to become a record year for foreign investment in hotels. The company reported that global hotel transactions reached US$42 billion in the first half of the year.
The highest turnover for the first half of the year was made in the Area of the Americas, with a total of US $24 billion, representing an increase of 73% in the figures of the previous year. It is followed by THE EMEA area, which showed an increase of 55% to reach US $ 15 billion, while the Asia-Pacific region registered a slight decrease in investment volumes of 6%.
While U.S. private equity funds remain the largest source of capital for hotels, the first half of 2015 saw a significant increase in operations from Chinese and Middle Eastern investors, which allocated $9.8 billion to investment in hotels and real estate globally, a significant increase from the $2.3 billion they spent on the same item during the same period last year.
Marcos Wynne Smith, Global CEO of JLL Hotels & Hospitality, said: "At the beginning of the year we predicted that global hotel transaction volumes for the full year would reach US$ 68 billion. So far 60% of this prediction has been achieved in the first half of 2015 and, if the momentum continues in the second half of the year, it could exceed the expected figure."
