Analysis by Audrey Kallman
January kicked off 2025 with most countries in the Americas region (excluding the U.S.) reporting year-over-year (YoY) growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR). Argentina and Mexico led with the highest growth in RevPAR, disguised by currency issues that yielded a strong enough lift in average daily rate (ADR) to counter an occupancy decline in both countries.
Rio de Janeiro stood out amongst the top markets in this region as having the highest RevPAR growth (at 33.9%). This was driven by strong performance on both weekdays and weekends, mostly due to corporate travel recovering and strong leisure demand. Many music shows over the last year have had a positive impact on performance, from Madonna to Rock in Rio. Most recently, Shakira performed in the market, which drove occupancy to reach its highest daily level for 2025 thus far. With more to come, including Lady Gaga, continued strong performance is anticipated this year.
Mexico is having a year, posting a double-digit RevPAR increase across most markets. These are predominantly fueled by rate growth impacted by a weakened currency against the dollar. The Mexico Caribbean was the next market in line behind Rio de Janeiro, with almost 28% RevPAR growth, followed by Mexico City and Baja California. Mexico City should expect to see a nice lift in performance when Shakira comes to town in mid-March. Forward STAR data shows hotel bookings around 40% on the concert nights.
In Panama, groups have recently been one of the key drivers for strong performance. Group rate growth has outpaced transient ADR, contributing to an overall room rate lift of nearly 10% in January. Occupancy gains were also present, resulting in RevPAR growth at 18.7%.
In Canada, the ADR gain is also sustaining most RevPAR growth. Group demand contributed to the 3.1% RevPAR growth in Canada, by driving rate increases at a level that exceeded the national rate growth, which was 2.7%. Several Canadian markets, including Montreal and Vancouver posted RevPAR increases.
Peru continues to show strong performance following the pandemic. It experienced one of the largest RevPAR increases (14.2%) in January due to increases in both occupancy and rate, with more coming from rate. This country has seen strong corporate demand and groups coming back, contributing to the growth across the country, but also specifically in markets like Lima, where RevPAR growth exceeded 11%.
The Dominican Republic posted a double-digit RevPAR increase in January as well, at 13%. Unlike several of the other top countries in this region, this was driven by an increase on both the occupancy and rate side. Occupancy growth at nearly 5% was the second highest occupancy gain based on countries in the Americas, just behind Panama (at 8.5%). Rates grew nearly 8% this month, helping lift RevPAR growth to double-digit levels.
In Colombia, slight occupancy growth paired with stronger rate growth lifted RevPAR up 8% YoY. Bogota contributed to this lift, with an increase in rate (7.4%) that exceeded the national average. However, markets like Cartagena, for example, are seeing weekend demand slow downs due to economic concerns. As a result, this market grew rate half a percentage point YoY.
