Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels' 2023 Annual Results presentation. My name's Aiden, General Manager of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Our results have been posted on the Stock Exchange website earlier this afternoon. Our presentation will begin by our senior management team following a brief Q&A session. For participants joining us physically, please do hold on to your questions till the Q&A session. For participants joining us through webcast, you are welcome to submit your questions at any point of time during the presentation by pressing the raise your hand button on the top right corner of your screen. Today, we are pleased to welcome the following speakers: Mr. Clement Kwok, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Peter Borer, Chief Operating Officer; Mr. Keith Robertson, Chief Financial Officer; Ms. Ming Chen, Chief Property Development Officer. We would now like to invite our CEO, Mr.
Clement Kwok, to begin the presentation.
Thank you, Aiden. Hi, everyone. It's good to see you all. Let me start by introducing the two new members of our team. Peter and myself, you have met many times. Actually, Peter and I have been doing press and analyst conferences together for more than 20 years, so I hope you know us by now. But our two new members joining are Keith Robertson, who's our new CFO, and Ming, who's been with us for about 20 years. She was previously head of business development, but now she's in charge of our non-hotel properties as the Chief Property Development Officer. And she's a member of our group management board as well. So I am very happy to introduce the two of them to all of you. Key messages. I think it's been, you know, a really important year for us in 2023.
It's been important, and it's been a very good year as well. Why do I say that? The first thing is because we have opened Peninsula London and Peninsula Istanbul, and, you all know how important that has been, for us. Now, Lynne tells me that this is the first time in 147 years that we've opened two hotels in one year. It's not how many, but it's the quality. I truly believe that we've opened two hotels that will rank amongst the best hotels in the world, and to have these two hotels brings our brand to another level. I think it brings our visibility and the perception of our brand to a different level. We'll talk more about that. In fact, Peter will show you some photos as well. In terms of financial results, the way I would summarize it is as follows.
If you look at our existing businesses, they have shown a very strong recovery. The EBITDA of our existing business is HKD 1.25 billion. That's a very large percentage. I forget what the percentage is, but it's a very big recovery. And that reflects on, you know, that all of our hotel properties are now operating at higher than pre-COVID in terms of earnings, except for the three hotels in Greater China. We can talk a little bit more about that, but of course, everybody knows that Greater China, we still have a challenge in terms of long-haul travel leisure travelers, and, you know, we're still seeing a big drop in long-haul leisure travel from the U.S. and Europe. So that is the underlying result.
But if you look at these set of results, you have to look at a number of, different factors that have affected our bottom line. And what are those factors? First of all, you have the pre-opening expenses, particularly for the period before the opening of London. Now, you'll appreciate that labor costs are very high in the U.K. And once you've built up your team, then the pre-opening costs become pretty high. And yes, we had delays during that period, so the pre-opening expenses became even higher. We also had post-opening losses for both Istanbul and London because, actually, when we soft-opened those hotels, we were not yet fully open. And so we were dealing with a partially open hotel, especially in London, which opened in phases, also in Istanbul. And so really, this is the first year that we have all of the different facilities in operation.
Again, it's a reflection of the high labor costs of places, especially London, that before you build up your business, then that cost base is gonna be pretty high. Now, for Istanbul, besides the buildup and parts of the hotel not yet being fully open, of course, we also had the earthquake in Turkey and the Middle East uncertainty caused by the Israel-Gaza conflict. So those factors have affected us as well. Against those pre-opening costs and losses after soft-opening, we have booked some property development profits on the sale of residential apartments in London. This only represents a relatively small proportion of the proceeds that we're going to get overall, but that has helped our results a little bit. And there is a bit of a property revaluation surplus.
So, if you add all of that up, then we've made a profit for the year. But I think you really have to go into the details of the adjustments that went in. But the bottom line in all of that is that we think that we've recovered enough to have declared a small dividend for the year, which will be the first time since pre-COVID, okay? So with that overall summary, I will ask Keith to go through some of the details of the numbers.
Thank you, Clement. It's very nice to meet you all for the first time, and, it gives me pleasure today to take you through the 2023 highlights and the financial results. The group reported significant improvement in revenue of 38% to HKD 5.8 billion. That excludes the Peninsula London residences' sales proceeds. June 2023, the sale of the 10 luxury residences in London completed, generating total proceeds of HKD 2.3 billion. Total group revenue in 2023 therefore amounted to HKD 8.1 billion. Our EBITDA before pre-opening and project expenses increased by 168% to approximately HKD 1.4 billion. It's worth highlighting again our first positive underlying profit of HKD 277 million since COVID. Our net operating cash flow, excluding residence sales proceeds, improved by 9 times to HKD 744 million.
The group had $3.4 billion of unused facilities and a net debt-to-total assets ratio of 26%, which we believe to be acceptable considering the final financial obligations of our new developments. The ratio will come down as we continue to collect the proceeds from the sale of the residences in London. We had a soft-opening of two magnificent hotels in 2023, as Clement has just told you and is often typical in the hospitality industry. To support the opening of the new hotels, our results were impacted by the significant amounts of non-recurring, pre-opening, and project expenses incurred during the year. In addition, as the hotels required time to ramp up to a stabilized state of earnings, operating losses of $258 million, of which $129 million were shared by the group, and $193 million were incurred by the Peninsula Istanbul and the Peninsula London, respectively.
These results were partly offset by the after-tax profit of HKD 251 million realized by the group on the sale of the residences in London. The group's consolidated hotel revenue in 2023 increased by 39% to HKD 4.2 billion, mainly driven by the Peninsula Hong Kong, the Peninsula Tokyo, Peninsula Beijing, and the soft-opening of the Peninsula London. The opening up of Greater China in February 2023 was a driving factor in improving our operating results for this region. Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing gradually enjoyed improved business performance, especially from the domestic Chinese mainland market. Total rooms revenue increased by 61%, and F&B revenue increased by 36%. Peninsula Tokyo and the Peninsula Manila achieved record average rates. Our overall hotel consolidated EBITDA increased by HKD 395 million year-over-year, which reflects an emerging recovery from the difficult years of the pandemic. Commercial properties.
Excluding the sales proceeds of the residences in London, the commercial properties portfolio recorded improvement year-on-year, with overall rental income increasing by 18% to HKD 812 million, which was mainly driven by more visitors to the Sky Terrace at The Peak Tower since the mainland Chinese borders reopened in March 2023. Total revenue amounted to HKD 3.1 billion, and the occupancy levels in our residential leasing business at The Repulse Bay have recovered significantly, although we are hoping the rental rates will improve further with more expatriates returning to live in Hong Kong. Regarding office properties, rental income remains stable. Clubs and services. In 2023, we achieved a 60% revenue growth. For the division, the New Peak Tram launched in August 2022 following a major project upgrade. It has been very well received by Hong Kong people and international visitors alike.
Since the Chinese mainland borders reopened in March 2023, as I said, business has been robust, with revenue increasing by over seven times. Our Peninsula Merchandising business expanded this year in mainland China and Japan, with new boutique and café outlets and direct operations in various sales channels. The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in August 2023 continued to be a great success, with the highest sponsorship revenue since the event started in 2003. To briefly recap on the profit and loss, Peninsula residential sales revenue for 2023 increased by 38% to HKD 5.8 billion in total, mainly due to the recovery from the hotel division. Total revenue increased by 93% to HKD 8.1 billion. Operating costs, excluding pre-opening and project costs, increased by 27% given the impact of inflation, especially rising labor and energy costs.
Pre-opening and project expenses increased by 145%, mainly because of the two new hotel openings. We were able to achieve an EBITDA of over HKD 1 billion and an operating profit of HKD 578 million. Our net financing charges increased with a higher weighted average gross interest rate of 4.3% per annum. The share of losses of joint venture and associates of HKD 184 million was mainly contributed by the Peninsula Istanbul, as the new hotel requires time to ramp up to the stabilized stage of operations and earnings, as I talked about earlier. The increase in fair value of investment properties of HKD 186 million was principally attributable to the higher appraised market values of the shopping arcade at the Peninsula Hong Kong and at the Peak Tower. Overall, the group had a profitable attributable shareholders of HKD 146 million.
Excluding non-operating items, our underlying profit was HKD 277 million. The cash flow summary. Net cash generated from operations for the year amounted to HKD 744 million after taking into account tax, changes in working capital, normal CapEx, net interest, and lease payments. Including residence sales, net cash generated from operations was HKD 3 billion. During the year, CapEx on hotel projects was HKD 2.2 billion, of which HKD 1.9 billion was spent on the Peninsula London, and the remainder was spent in Istanbul. CapEx for the Peak Tram upgrade was HKD 68 million, and pre-opening and project expenses was HKD 259 million, and interest expense for the projects totaled HKD 546 million. Cash outflow before borrowings for the year significantly reduced to HKD 58 million from HKD 2.8 billion in 2022. Capital structure and financial position summary.
Our borrowings increased by HKD 722 million to HKD 15.9 billion, with an average duration of 1.8 years. Weighted average gross interest was at 4.38% per annum, which was 223 basis points higher than 2022 due to the interest rate hike environment in 2023, partially offset by the hedges in place. Net debt-to-total assets remained at 26%, and available liquidity totaled HKD 3.4 billion. HKD 6.6 billion of refinancing was executed in 2023. 36% of our total facilities were classified as green, while 33% were classified as sustainability-linked loans. We continue to monitor our overall debt and cash flow positions carefully and remain prudent with sufficient financing cover. I'll now hand you over to Peter to talk about the operations.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. In 2023, The Peninsula Hong Kong experienced a strong recovery compared to the previous year when Hong Kong was still negatively affected by quarantine restrictions. Occupancy and average room rate increased by 21% and 65% year-on-year, respectively. With the reopening of the borders with mainland China in March, business performance picked up, although the long-haul markets from the U.S. and Europe are recovering more slowly than expected. We hope to see this market picking up in 2024, and we're working with our travel agency partners as well as our local airline, Cathay Pacific, to promote Hong Kong as a destination. On the leasing side, The Peninsula Office Tower was 86% occupied in 2023, and the immediate outlook is stable. The Peninsula Arcade occupancy was 90%, and the retail business is seeing a strong pickup and queues outside luxury retail outlets.
The Peninsula Shanghai had a weak start to 2023, although the situation turned following the lifting of the stringent COVID restrictions across the city after Chinese New Year. We reported a strong year-on-year increase in occupancy rates and RevPAR, albeit taking into consideration the hotel was subject to a mandatory lockdown from April to June 2022. Occupancy and average room rate increased by 33% and 14% year-on-year, respectively. The Peninsula Arcade was 83% occupied during 2023. The Peninsula Beijing experienced a strong year compared to the same period last year when the city's economy was suffering from stringent COVID restrictions. Occupancy and average rate increased by 42% and 11% year-on-year, respectively. The Peninsula Arcade was 99% occupied, and business in retail outlets was good.
We're delighted that some of our anchor tenants have significantly expanded their space, and we welcome some temporary stores, which help to drive further revenue. The Peninsula Tokyo in 2023 recorded the best-performing year in the history of the hotel, with rates, occupancy, and RevPAR exceeding our expectations due to the return of international business from the U.S., the United Kingdom, South Korea, Hong Kong, and we achieved the highest revenue since the hotel opened. Occupancy and average room rate increased by 11% and 89% year-on-year, respectively. The Peninsula Bangkok experienced significant growth compared to the same period last year, although business has not rebounded to the extent we had expected from certain key markets such as Japan and China, partly caused by a lack of flight capacity. Occupancy and average room rate increased by 12% and 28% year-on-year, respectively.
The Peninsula Manila achieved historically high average room rates and RevPAR compared to 2022, which had been affected by stringent government travel restrictions. Occupancy and average room rate increased by 9% and 21% year-on-year. The Peninsula New York experienced a reasonably strong year compared to 2022, with revenue increasing by 7% year-on-year, although we started the year conscious that the initial so-called revenge travel after the pandemic had started to taper off in the U.S. market. We achieved record-high average daily rates, and business was fueled by the corporate sector. In January 2024, we started a significant renovation of the lobby and reception area, guest rooms, public areas, and the rooftop bar, and we expect the renovation to be completed later in 2024, and it will be carried out with minimal disruption to our guests.
The Peninsula Chicago recorded a stable 2023 compared to the previous year, although average rates declined slightly by 4%. The Peninsula Beverly Hills experienced a softer-than-expected performance in 2023, with improved average rates year-on-year by 2%, while occupancy declined slightly by 5%. Los Angeles was affected by prolonged inclement weather in spring and summer of 2023, which negatively affected our rooftop and pool areas, as well as the weekend guests and drive-in visitors. This property has traditionally received a significant amount of business from the film and entertainment industries, and unfortunately, the writer's strike last year has affected many major events and conferences due to the production of movies being on hold.
The Peninsula London held its soft opening on the 12th of September 2023 and opened in phases, with a partial inventory of 10 rooms and a full inventory of 190 rooms available from the 1st of March 2024. Both signature restaurants were opened by the end of September 2023. Full project practical completion was achieved on the 4th of March 2024, although a list of snagging and improvement works has been identified that is being executed and will be completed in the first six months of 2024. We're in the process of preparing and agreeing final accounts with our trade contractors and consultants, which will include finalization of program delay costs. We continue to target that the finalization of such accounts will enable us to come within the previously disclosed project budget approved by the board in October 2022.
Rooms business is gaining momentum month by month, and banquets and spa are performing well. The fine dining restaurant Brooklands was bestowed with two Michelin stars in January 2024. The Peninsula London complex comprises 190 room hotels and 24 Peninsula-branded residences. During 2023, the sales of a total of 10 luxury residences were legally completed, generating total proceeds of HKD 2.3 billion. Of the remaining 14 residential units, a total of eight residences has exchanged contracts as of the 31st of December. And I will now share with you some photos of this new hotel. Here, you can see the front façade facing Wellington Arch on Hyde Park Corner, a photo of our interior courtyards with some of our car fleet. As usual, we have Rolls-Royces, but this time we also added some Bentleys and BMWs and London taxis and vintage cars. And this is the traditional Peninsula lobby.
Next, you see a photo of the Arch Suite because it has a beautiful uninterrupted view over Wellington Arch and also a luxury room looking at the same view. Our bathrooms are all crafted with honey onyx, and all, of course, have heated floors, and a signature Peninsula dressing room, which is a feature in every guest room and suite. This is a photo of the hotel pool, which is 25 meters, and we have a separate pool for our resident owners. The next photo shows the interior of Brooklands Bar, which offers one of the finest views over London. You can see from Buckingham Palace to the London Eye all the way to the Arch and so on. It's a wonderful view. Canton Blue is a Chinese restaurant which has been very well received so far and is booked out for weeks.
Moving to our hotel in Paris, The Peninsula Paris experienced a strong 2023, achieving the highest revenue and average room rate since the hotel opened in 2014. Average room rate increased by 20% year-over-year. We're looking forward to a strong year in 2024 and already fully booked for the Olympics to be held in Paris during the summer of 2024. Our other new hotel, The Peninsula Istanbul, soft opened on the 14th of February with a partial inventory of 23 rooms and a full inventory of 177 rooms by the 1st of August. The majority of final accounts have been settled, and the final costs will be very close to budget. Turkey is still grappling with hyperinflation as well as regional geopolitical concerns, which weigh heavily on the hotel's operating results. We're formulating strategies to manage the situation, and again, I'd like to show you some photos.
This photo shows you building number two. As you know, we have four buildings along the Bosporus. Building number two also houses most of our food and beverage, and you're looking at the rooftop restaurant, which is called Gallada. It is run by the chef director, Fatih Tutak, which is Turkey's only two-Michelin-starred chef. This is a photo of the Peninsula lobby, which used to be the former cruise terminal. Most of our guest rooms have incredible views over the Bosporus. We have a suite which is dedicated to Turkish art, both modern and traditional, and again, has fantastic views over the water. The next photo shows you what is the rooftop pavilion of the Peninsula Suite, which occupies the top and the second-top floor of building number one and has a total area of 510 square meters.
This is sort of the party pavilion, which then leads out to the swimming pool. The Peninsula Suite has its own pool with the most amazing view. You can see the Hagia Sophia. You can see the Blue Mosque. The bathroom of this suite is kept in a very beautiful marble. Last but not least, a photo of a spa treatment room. Now over to me.
Thank you, Peter. Welcome, everybody. I will go through our commercial properties division. The Repulse Bay complex reported increased revenue compared to the previous year with strong banqueting revenue. Residential revenue and occupancy improved at 101 Repulse Bay and De Ricou following a slight refurbishment of 60 apartments. In 2023, overall occupancy was at 90%, and average monthly rent was HKD 45 per sq ft. We're pleased to see demand returning from both the local market and expatriates who are returning or moving to Hong Kong. We reported positive leasing renewals during the summer months, and our long-term outlook is positive. A strategic review on the Repulse Bay Arcade is currently being undertaken. The Peak Tower experienced a satisfactory year after the borders reopened and visitors started returning to Hong Kong, as well as benefiting from the reopening of the Peak Tram in August 2022.
Revenue and occupancy improved with fewer rental concessions. Occupancy was at 88%. The visitors to Sky Terrace 428 improved significantly compared to the previous year, in part due to successful sales of combo tickets with the Peak Tram, and there were over 1.7 million visitors to Sky Terrace in 2023 compared to 200,000 in 2022. We're currently reviewing possible plans to renovate the property. Moving on to clubs and services, overall revenue for the Peak Tram increased by 669%. The new sixth-generation Peak Tram, which was launched in August 2022 following a major upgrade, has been very well received by Hong Kong people and visitors. Since the Chinese mainland borders reopened in February 2023, business has been robust with almost 6 million passengers in 2023 compared to 900,000 in 2022. We're on track for a record year in 2024. I will now hand over to Peter.
Thank you, Ming. Quail Lodge and Golf Club reported a positive year with increased revenue and robust average rates, although RevPAR declined slightly year on year. We hosted the Quail Motorsports Gathering in May, and we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Quail Motorsports Gathering in August. This has become one of the world's leading concours events for motoring aficionados, with the highest sponsorship revenue achieved since the event started in 2003. Peninsula Merchandising had a year of expansion and development and was able to grow its revenue. One particular highlight was when we opened our first flagship standalone Peninsula boutique and café in Chinese mainland in Xintiandi in Shanghai. We opened another Peninsula boutique and café in Matsuya Ginza department store in Japan, and reported solid growth across all our operations in Japan. Now it's back to Clement to talk about sustainability and company outlook.
As you know, we have a well-established sustainability program which started 10 years ago. We focus on the stakeholder pillars of enhancing our guest experience, empowering our people, and enriching our communities. One particular example I would highlight are the designs of Peninsula London and Peninsula Istanbul, both compliant with BREEAM Excellent level, and they incorporate numerous sustainability elements such as sustainably sourced wood, energy and water-efficient equipment, waste diversion facilities, a rooftop garden to host native species to support local ecology and biodiversity. All of our hotels have also received EarthCheck sustainable hotel certification, except for Istanbul and London, which are new, and we have not yet applied for those. Outlook, I think generally we're seeing a more favorable trend, although I have pointed out already that the long-haul leisure market, we need to see more of an improvement there.
As we've said, the perception of Hong Kong among the West, I think that is still not as good. The geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China continue to affect us. We are seeing some growth in Japan and Paris. Beijing and Shanghai are seeing quite strong domestic markets, and rates remain high in the U.S. The main issue is London and Istanbul, as we've said before. We've only just opened, and of course, a key issue is to build the revenue. We have no doubt that the reputation of these hotels will be very, very high and that once the hotels stabilize, we'll see good earnings. It's still early days, so this is one of the key issues for us. On the commercial property side, we're seeing good results and good trends.
As Ming has said, we'll have a look at the Repulse Bay Arcade and the Peak Tower to see if we can do some renovations to help those properties. But if you look at how our company has weathered through COVID and fared, especially London, I think we've done pretty well. I think our financial position is stable given that we have had to navigate through this difficult situation. As has been announced and you know, I'm going to be retiring at the end of October. I've been CEO for 22 years. I've worked with Peter through all this time. We have built the Peninsulas in Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Istanbul, and London, and we've done a lot of renovations and improved our other properties as well.
So I just want to say right now, because Peter is also retiring in July, that none of this would have been possible, Peter, without our cooperation and working together, as well as the hard work, loyalty, and support of all of our management and staff. So I would like to thank them. I'd like to pay tribute to Peter for his 42 years of dedicated service. And Peter has truly maintained an exceptional standard of hospitality during this time. So I think we're relatively pleased where things are. It's been obviously a difficult period, but as I said, a very notable year has just passed. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Clement. We are now open for questions. There are some questions on the web. I will start off with the first question. First question is, will there be any new hotel construction for Peninsula going forward, and what are the pipelines for Peninsula going forward?
Well, clearly, you've seen from our balance sheet that the priority right now is to restore our balance sheet. Our net borrowings level is still higher than where we would like it. We still have a bunch of London residential sales coming in, and so we do not regard that our financial position has stabilized. I think it is much more important for us to digest the hotels that we have opened. And in particular, I have emphasized the importance of getting up to a stabilized financial performance for London and Istanbul. So of course, we're always looking at some possible future projects, but we do not plan to commit to anything major until we've seen further recovery and stabilization.
Thank you, Clement. Next question. What are some key challenges for Peninsula that you can see in the next year?
There are always challenges like labor. Sometimes you have labor shortages. You always have issues like competition because there's a large supply of luxury hotels in many of the markets that we operate. But really, by far, the overwhelming one is the overall geopolitical situation. I think if we can see a better perception of Hong Kong and by the way, one thing we would like to talk about is that Hong Kong has to promote itself more as well. By way of an example, we and some other luxury hotel brands and café, we sponsored the International Advisory Board of Travel + Leisure to come to Hong Kong two weeks ago. These are all owners of the biggest travel agencies in North America. None of them had been to Hong Kong since before COVID. When they came, their eyes were opened to how good Hong Kong still is.
They said, "This is fantastic. We're having such a good experience, but we didn't realize." So Hong Kong has to get the message out. Hong Kong has to market itself better and be proud of what it can do and convey that pride and get more and get a better image for Hong Kong for people to come back. So I would say it's the macro that is the biggest one. And in particular, obviously, our business does much better when there are no wars, no trade wars, no international tensions and stuff like this. So that's something maybe a little bit outside our control. In the meantime, all we can do is to maintain the best product that we can offer to our customers and do the best we can. But yes, it's really the macro picture that will affect our performance the most.
Thank you. We have two more questions online. Do you expect to sell all remaining unsold Peninsula London apartments this year?
She's in charge of that.
Of course, that is our intention. With the hotel open, it's a wonderful opportunity for prospective buyers not only to see the residences but also the hotel. Of course, delivering them has been challenging, but they're absolutely beautiful. Of course, we do hope to sell them this year.
Ming has done an amazing job because she's actually sold most of the apartments already completely off-plan at record prices in London. This is why we invited her to join this table.
Thank you, Ming and Clement. A final question on the web. Would the company consider share buyback based on current NAV status?
Well, I think you've just heard me talk about managing our borrowings, managing our gearing, and London residential sales reducing our gearing and so on. Clearly, the answer is no. Our priority is to lower our gearing and to strengthen all of our credit ratios. I mean, on that, can I make a comment? We talk about our results having recovered a lot on our existing properties. Clearly, we're looking for more recovery from Greater China. But also, we have been affected a lot by this non-recurring pre-opening expenses and the losses in soft opening. These are not recurring factors. I don't see that we've stabilized our earnings by any means right now. The EBITDA, I think, has the capability to increase quite a lot with the factors that I'm talking about, particularly with London and Istanbul, once they become more established.
When you're looking at the company's overall financial position, I think you have to take that into account, that we do expect the EBITDA to go up, but it has not yet reached the levels that we would regard to be stable.
Thank you, Clement. If there are no more questions, we will end this presentation at this stage. If there are any questions.
Questions on the floor? You're completely satisfied with my answers?
Can I ask one question?
Please go ahead.
Sorry. I saw during the presentation that the interest cost increased by more than 200 at this point, and the hedge ratio is below 50%. Can I just understand more about the hedging strategy of the company going forward?
Well, this is responsibility, but the way I would answer that is actually the hedging strategy takes into account the expected paydown of debt from the London rescue proceeds.
Yes. We also have a robust treasury policy that we need to follow. Currently, we are 47% hedged. Our duration of our existing hedging is also at a significant 10 as well. So basically, in conjunction with our treasury policy, together with group treasury monitoring the market, that's how we manage our interest rate risk.
Thank you. Gentleman behind that.
Hi. May I ask a question regarding the Hong Kong operation? First is the guest mix. Is there any major change in the guest mix before and after COVID? The second question is.
Yes. U.S. and American and European leisure travelers.
Quite a lot, the change.
Yeah. The change is that we're not seeing the U.S. and European travelers that we used to see before. We still get good business from Southeast Asia, from China, from many other destinations, some Middle East and so on, right, Peter? But the main difference is America and Europe.
The second question is, it seems that Hong Kong people have been changing the habit of dining out, especially in the evening. Is there any implication or impact on the F&B revenue for Hong Kong Peninsula?
I don't think we're seeing that, Peter. Our F&B restaurant's pretty good.
Yeah, we're doing very well. And as you know, you might have seen we're doing a lot of interesting promotions and cooperations. And we even have the Star Ferry for afternoon tea. And we thought that would last like a month, and that's now been going on for like 10 months, and it's still selling out. So the GM of The Peninsula Hong Kong, my colleague Joseph Chong, is super creative. We're looking very optimistically into Art Basel. There's a lot of private events scheduled over the next few days with some very prominent people attending. So it's doing well.
Thank you.
All of you must try the Star Ferry afternoon tea and the Peninsula restaurants.
Next year, they do the meeting on the Star Ferry.
The Peninsula restaurants, I mean, we go to them all the time. I have to say the food quality is very good and well worth it.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you for attending. Thank you.