Singapore continues to pursue a "Living with Covid-19" strategy, with anticipation to transit to a "new normal" in three to six months.

In the move to reopen borders and re-establish the country's status as a global hub, Singapore has extended its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme to eight more countries.

With more of such arrangements in discussion, the country's travel and hospitality sector is poised to benefit in the long run.

There are five trusts in the S-REITs and Property Trusts sector with exposure to the hospitality segment in Singapore – Ascott Residence Trust, CDL Hospitality Trusts, Far East Hospitality Trust, Frasers Hospitality Trust and OUE Commercial REIT.

These five trusts have averaged 6.0 per cent in total returns in the year to date.

Following the announcement to expand the VTL scheme on Oct 9, these five trusts advanced an average of 5.4 per cent in the four trading sessions from Oct 11 to 14.

Ascott Residence Trust (ART), one of the largest hospitality trusts in Asia-Pacific, has a portfolio of 89 properties, including serviced residences, hotels, rental housing and student accommodation.

ART observed that the initial phase of recovery remained largely driven by the domestic and essential corporate travel segments, and expects the return of international demand to be more gradual.

OUE Commercial Reit (OUE C-Reit) owns seven properties across the commercial and hospitality segments in Singapore and Shanghai, including Mandarin Orchard Singapore and Crowne Plaza Changi Airport.

In its first half 2021 results announcement, it noted that its hospitality segment revenue remained flat year on year due to the minimum rent under the master lease arrangements of the hotel properties.

CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) owns 15 hotels globally, including six in Singapore, and two resorts comprising a total of 4,631 rooms as well as a retail mall.

CDLHT noted that its portfolio of six Singapore hotels continued to be impacted by continued border closures and absence of major meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) events.

Several of these trusts have conducted rebranding and asset enhancement exercises in preparation for the eventual upturn of the sector.

This includes ART, which started the rejuvenation of Somerset Liang Court and lyf one-north in Singapore, and OUE C-Reit's renovation of Mandarin Orchard Singapore.

Far East Hospitality Trust, the only pure-play Singapore hospitality trust, has also committed to expedite its asset enhancements.

To create more resilient portfolios and stable income streams, ART and CDLHT have also announced the expansion of their investment mandates to include more asset types.

CDLHT expanded its principal investment strategy to include rental housing, co-living, student accommodation and senior housing in July 2021.

ART has announced three acquisitions in the United States' student accommodation segment since the start of the year. 

REIT Watch is a weekly column on The Business Times, read the original version.