Annual installation ceremony for graduation of new monks, Qiangabling Monastery, Chamdo

Trevor Sofield is the Foundation Professor of Tourism, University of Tasmania, Australia and he has written a long report on the future of tourism in Tibet. You can download the complete report HERE.

A major commitment, supported by more than US$20 billion, has been made for the economic development of China’s western provinces (the Western Development Plan) because of their relative under-development compared to the booming eastern coastal provinces.

The Lin Zhi Prefecture and four counties in the south east of Tibet Autonomous Region abuts Myanmar and India to the south, is in a part of Tibet not yet opened to international tourism.

A master plan is being formulated under the auspices of the China National Tourism Administration, a key aim of which is to promote Tibetan culture.

The development plan submitted for the pilgrimage town of Chamdo in central eastern Tibet, home of perhaps the most famous Yellow Hat sect Buddhist teaching monastery in Tibet with currently more than 2000 resident monks, Qianbaling, provides such an example.

Chamdo is surrounded by eight ancient monasteries and temples located high up in the surrounding mountains, each one at the end of a road that radiates out from Chamdo like the spoke of a wheel.

Each temple requires a full day in a 4WD vehicle to reach and return to Chamdo.

This configuration lends itself to a classical hub-and-spokes cluster development and the concept incorporated in our Tourism Development Plan utilises the Tibetan prayer wheel or circle of life to emphasize the cultural richness of the experience.
Much more HERE.
Source:4Hoteliers

Zen Shaolin show

‘Zen Shaolin,’ is an outdoor spectacle and tourist attraction in Henan Province, China. The extravaganza, with a cast of 500, is staged after nightfall in a valley that sits before a huge mountain in central Henan Province, one of the cradles of Chinese civilization.

For those who were dazzled by the opening of the Beijing Olympics earlier this month, that ceremony had its roots in shows like this one, which with government backing and private financing are drawing huge audiences to some of China’s most scenic or historic spots.

The outdoor performances are part cultural event, part tourist attraction, with a dash of Hollywood and an intriguing blend of high and pop culture.

In the new China, investors and the government can team up to acquire a mountain, hire the Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun and the internationally known dancer and choreographer Huang Dou Dou, and produce a spectacle that includes monks from the famed Shaolin Temple.

The project’s investors spent more than $15 million to build a theater set in a valley below three mountains, one rising 4,921 feet, with temples, a wooden pagoda, a martial-arts school, an arched bridge, a stream and a small village with a stone pathway.

One of the hopes of the producers was that “Zen Shaolin,” which opened in May 2007, would bolster tourism in a province that has 100 million residents and has largely been left behind by China’s economic boom. Much more HERE.
Source: New York Times

Jinmao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center.

The Shanghai World Financial Center, standing 492 meters tall and also nicknamed the ‘Wall Street of China,’ the biggest skyscraper in Chinese mainland and the third-tallest in the world has been officially inaugurated.

The 492-meter-high building is in the Lujiazui area of Pudong District overlooking the Huangpu River.

It covers an area of 381,600 square meters. It has 101 floors above ground and three floors underground.

The third to fifth floors are conference centers.

This fits in neatly with the Park Hyatt Shanghai hotel which takes up the 79th to 93rd floors. Hotel rooms with amazing views. On a clear day you can see forever.
Source: China View

China tourism

State media has reported that China’s tourism industry is expected to employ 100 million people by 2015. That means that, if it works out that way, one in every 14 Chinese will work in the sector.

The People’s Daily said the government will introduce various policies to help the industry reach the goal, which marks a steep increase from the 60 million currently employed in the industry.

Authorities will adopt measures to facilitate job hunting and subsidise training of new staff, according to a statement posted on the National Tourism Administration’s website.

They also plan to launch a campaign to expand tourism infrastructure in less developed areas.

Labour Minister Tian Chengping said earlier this year that the employment situation in China was ‘very severe,’ as 20 million new jobseekers emerge annually — a situation that will continue for a very long time.
Source: AFP

Stanley Ho

Last month Stanley Ho, the Hong Kong-born gambling magnate, announced plans to tear down his flagship Lisboa casino and hotel and build his biggest and most opulent showcase yet, at a cost of $1.54 billion. The amazing 86-year-old also pushed through a long-delayed initial public offering for the company he controls, SJM Holdings, raising $494 million.

Since 2002, when this former Portuguese colony allowed others to break into Stanley Ho’s longtime monopoly here, Las Vegas heavyweights have had massive casinos built.

The combined gambling revenue for all Macau’s casinos increased 80% to $10.3 billion between 2005 and 2007, making it bigger than Atlantic City and the Las Vegas Strip combined.

Over the same period, revenue at SJM’s operating subsidiary, Sociedade De Jogos de Macau, fell to $4.1 billion from $4.3 billion, as business dropped off at its older, comparatively cramped casinos.

SJM owns 19 of Macau’s 29 casinos and 29% of the market’s gambling revenues. Las Vegas Sands, which owns two casinos, is close behind with 21%.

SJM and Stanley Ho, its chairman, are now going on the offensive.

In view of the possibility of China restricting access for locals to Macau this seems interesting timing. Much more on this HERE.
Source: Wall Street Journal

Garden Hotel Suzhou

The historic Garden Hotel Suzhou, a former state guest house and private residence of Kuomingtang leader Chiang Kai-shek, has earned 5-star status.

This award comes from China’s National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and makes one wonder how other hotels can claim seven star status when CNTA does not issue them.

Garden Hotel Suzhou last year has a RMB260 million makeover. The former manor, which hosted visits by over a hundred Chinese and international political leaders as a state guest house, was approved in its  5-star rating after a series of unannounced checks of both service and facilities.

It features 238-rooms with comprehensive conference facilities. A modern business center, luxurious spa, gym and a boutique were also incorporated in the renovation so that it becomes a MICE hotel but still very much in a garden setting.
Source: Asia Travel Tips

Luxury train to Tibet

China still aims to launch ‘the most luxurious train in the world’ from Beijing to Tibet despite potential security problems.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported in early March, just days before local problems started in Tibet, that the train would go into service on September 1.

But an official at the Qinghai Tibet Railway Company, who also asked to remain anonymous, says there is no timetable yet for the train’s maiden voyage.

Xinhua said earlier a ticket of the 96-seat train, decorated ‘according to the standards of a five-star hotel’, would cost about RMB40,000 ($5,800), or 20 times the ordinary fare for a train ride to Tibet.

Foreign visitors were only allowed back in Tibet at the end of June.
Source: AFP

Sheraton Dongcheng Hotel

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has signed its 100th hotel in China. The Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel will have 470 rooms, approximately 36,000 square feet of meeting space, 3 restaurants and bar, a health club, spa and indoor heated swimming pool.

The hotel is part of the final phase of the Global Trade Center (GTC) mixed-use complex development.

The complex comprises offices, retail shops, condominium, serviced apartments, and the hotel. The Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel is scheduled to open January 2011.

Starwood currently has two hotels under construction in Beijing: aloft Beijing Haidian and Four Points by Sheraton Beijing, Haidian; as well as 4 hotels in operation: Great Wall Sheraton Beijing, The Westin Beijing, Financial Street, The Westin Beijing, Chaoyang and St Regis Beijing.
Source: Japan Today

Pangu Plaza

The dragon-shaped Pangu Plaza in Beijing is surrounded by rumors.  Shaped like a dragon — and stretching the length of seven football fields — is a colossal row of stone buildings that boast a high-rise office tower, shopping mall and what is referred to as a seven-star hotel (the limit on stars is generally accepted as five.)

This building has attracted a raft of rumors which have everyone from Bill Gates to Henry Kissinger either buying in or staying there.

The building’s developers officially denies the project has any relationship to the Olympics or that Gates resides there. And a spokesperson for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation declined to comment on the private affairs of the Gates family.

But the property developers do acknowledge that ’someone very, very important’ resides in the building; that Buffett considered renting a courtyard space (all of which are on the top floor of the lower-rise buildings) and that Kissinger was a guest during the Olympics. Which is great publicity and cannot be proved either way.

Cai Xiaomin, a spokeswoman for Beijing Pangu Investment, the Chinese developer said, ‘We have had a lot of very important guests.’ Which is a neat trick if the hotel is not yet opened. Perhaps it is what the trade calls a ’soft opening’.

The report describes the so-called seven-star hotel which has hand-carved wooden sculptures hanging from the ceilings, prints of traditional Chinese paintings, a Japanese restaurant that charges about $600 per person and a presidential suite that goes for about $30,000 a night.

This despite the fact that the building is still under construction. And that the hotel is not, in fact, yet open although this should happen in a few weeks.

Much of the building is cordoned off by white tape and guarded by men who appear to be wearing paramilitary uniforms. More HERE.
Source: New York Times

Tourists in China

The Beijing Foreign Enterprises Service (FESCO) said in a recent report that Beijing and Shanghai will each need 500,000 trained hotel staff by 2010 to serve the millions of overseas tourists expected to pour into the country for sightseeing and international conferences.

It also said that at least 10,000 sports management professionals and 7,000 trainers will also be needed this year to meet the Chinese public’s renewed interest in physical training and sports generally.

Li Yiguang, Assistant General Manager and Director of recruitment department with FESCO, said, ‘These rising demands are attributable to the Olympic Games, which have stimulated local interest in sports as well as making China an even more popular travel destination for the next two to three years.’

Professional consultant Hao Jian was quoted as saying in the Guangzhou Daily that the Olympic games’ influence on the host country’s economy, particularly its tourism and sports, usually ‘lasts for a decade’.
Source: China Daily