The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) published ‘2007 China travel and tourism economic research.’ This shows that in 2007, China’s personal travel expenses are expected to reach approximately RMB900 billion. By 2017 it estimates China’s personal travel expenses will reach RMB3.5 trillion. This, of course, is a guesstimate but it does show the size of the potential market, potential profits and potential problems.

Last year, the number of overseas tourists in China amounted to approximately 50 million. The number of tourists traveling abroad reached about 35 million and the number of domestic tourists was about 1.4 billion.

China has become a traveling destination and at some point in the future, probably within ten years, it will be the world’s most popular tourist destination.
Source: People’s Daily Online

China has announced it will soon ‘fully open’ its domestic travel market to foreign-owned travel agencies. This looks like being four months ahead of China’s scheduled November deadline under terms set by its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Beginning July 1 foreign-funded travel agencies will be able to set up subsidiary offices without restrictions. At the moment an agency requires about $40,000 capital to set up an office in the Chinese domestic market.

Shao Qiwei, head of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), said: ‘We welcome the entry of the world’s big tourism companies and well-known brand names into China. It will help to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese tourism companies.’

In the past five years, 25 foreign-funded travel agencies have set up offices in China.

To encourage the industry’s development, CNTA is encouraging travel agencies to offer more travel products and service providers to upgrade service standards.

Yao Yuecan, president of the China International Travel Services, said small agencies are cutting prices to compete against traditional state-owned agencies. ‘It is not easy to survive in China’s market with a limited profit margin.’

Official statistics show China has the largest domestic tourism market in the world, registering 1.3 billion travelers in 2006 and further set to grow to 1.7 billion by 2010.
Source: Travel Video TV

Launched in Beijing’s Chinese Ethnic Culture Park last week was China travel’s newest search tool — www.china.directory.travel.

Aimed at promoting China’s depth of tourism assets, the new China Directory is a progression of the online search tool the .travel Directory — a virtual catalog of every travel product and service offered by .travel registrants. Plainly the web site is still being worked on as not all its functions are operating totally smoothly but there is more than enough there to see how it will work.

The China travel portal currently offers information with more than 7,000 destinations and travel-related companies in China. Unveiled last week in Chinese, www.china.directory.travel will soon be available to consumers and businesses around the world in 11 different languages.

Mr. Tang Hongguang, Director-General of the Information Center of the China National Tourism Association (CNTA) said, ‘The .travel directory comes to China at an advantageous time. With the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games nearing, China is focused on preparing for the millions of visitors expected from around the world.

‘Currently, the total number of trips taken domestically is up to 1.39 billion while 125 million foreign travelers have entered China. wwwchina.directory.travel will not only help to further promote the country’s abundant tourism assets to the millions of travelers China hosts annually, and the many more anticipated for the Olympic Games, but provide greater access to travel information about China to consumers around the globe.’
Source: Internet Travel News

Figures published by the Ministry of Commerce showed that retail sales from the hotel and catering sector accounted for 14.1% of China’s total retail sales of consumer goods during the first quarter of this year. This sector rose 17.4% year on year to hit RMB298.36 billion ($37.3 billion) in the first three months of 2007.

But investment seems to be a bit down. Statistics showed the number of newly approved foreign-funded hotels and catering projects dropped 22.3% year-on-year to 171, with contracted foreign investments totaling $380 million, down 28.1%. Actualized foreign investment increased 5.4 percent to $190 million.

The ministry forecast that the retail sales of China’s catering sector would hit RMB1.21 trillion this year.
Source: China.org.cn

The China Post Group has chosen 30 of its star-rated hotels (there are 400 altogether) to place on the Shanghai United Assets & Equity Exchange (SUAEE) for asset trading purposes.

This is practically a directive from Premier Wen Jiabao. At the recent CPPCC annual session, he said state-owned companies should begin a complete overhaul aiming to cast adrift their non-core business. This will improve services in the core businesses. Plain running a hotel is not a Post Office core business.

Our illustration shows the Mengcheng Post, located in Jiangsu province, which was inaugurated by the Gaoyou county magistrate Huang Kiming in the 8th Jongwu year in Ming Dynasty.

After Emperor Chengzu moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing for a while the two capitals existed at the same time and there was heavy traffic and busy contacts between the North and South.

Mingcheng Post, therefore, became more and more important. It had 200 rooms, 130 postal horses, 18 postal boats and more than 200 people as servers and couriers. Mengcheng Post performed the function of post office, hotel and transportation port as well. And all this many centuries before the Pony Express was even dreamed of.

Ren Yongxin, deputy general manager of the Finance Department under China Post Group, said, ‘We will focus only on postal services in the future, and sell or transfer first our hotel assets and then the ones in other sectors.’

Fixing the details of the chain of the first 30 is Phoenix Asset Management. There are many rumors that most of the group’s hotels are operating at a loss but there is no official comment. He said, ‘There’s no problem with profitability, the initiative is aimed at sharpening our core competence’.

As the 2008 Beijing Olympics — a time of plenty for the city’s hospitality industry — draw close, he said ‘a professional hotel operator will perform a better job in getting these hotels to provide strong servies and improve their brand equity.’

The 30 hotels newly listed on the SUAEE are spread across 17 Chinese cities, covering 4 four-star and 13 three-star hotels.

Ren Yonxin said, ‘We aim to finalize the deals on these 30 hotels by the end of 2007, before bringing in the next batch. By the end of 2008, all our 400-odd hotels will be available for trading on the SUAEE.’
Source: China Daily

Loong Palace Hotel & Resort, the 5-star hotel in northern Beijing, has expanded by 350 rooms with the opening of a new wing. The extension opens as Beijing prepares for a huge influx of visitors for next year’s Olympic Games in the Chinese capital.

The new South Wing brings the hotel up to a total of 940 rooms.

It also incorporates a new lifestyle spa, My Spa, opening in April with 19 differently styled treatment rooms and suites.
Source: eTravel Blackboard

In Malaysia Muda Holdings chairman Tan Sri Lim Guan Teik and businessman Tan Sri Ngan Ching Wen, are leading an initial group of 10 Malaysian businessmen to build a Sino-Malaysia International Centre in Xian Qujiang, Shaanxi province. The center will house a five-star and a four-star hotel.

Work will start soon and completion will take about four years.

An initial pact for the project was signed by Ngan and senior executives of Xian Qujiang New District Administrative Committee during the Expo Investment and Tourism Promotion of Qujiang New District in Kuala Lumpur. Ngan said a company named Xian Qujiang Properties had been set up in Malaysia to handle the project.
Source: Business Times

Four Points by Sheraton has signed for the first Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Guangzhou. This will be called Four Points by Sheraton Guangzhou, Dongbao. The brand was first introduced to China with the opening of Four Points by Sheraton Shenzhen (seen here) in late 2004 and subsequently the opening of the first Four Points in Shanghai in 2006. New Four Points by Sheraton additions will be coming to Dalian, Daning-Shanghai, Changshu, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou. The new hotel in Dongbaois scheduled to open in 2009.

Miguel Ko, President, Starwood Asia Pacific, said, ‘We are thrilled about the choice location of our new hotel in Guangzhou and are honored to partner with Guangzhou Hejing Real Estate Development to manage this exciting new addition to our portfolio. It will provide the Four Points by Sheraton brand with a great presence in the economic center of the Pearl River Delta.’

Besides Four Points by Sheraton Dongbao, Starwood is currently developing four other new hotels in Guangzhou: The Westin Guangzhou (mid 2007), Sheraton Guangzhou Hotel (2009), W Guangzhou & Residences (2010) and Sheraton Huadu Resort (2009).

Four Points by Sheraton Guangzhou, Dongbao will be located within a mixed-use development consisting of the hotel, offices and residential units in Dongbao area, Guangzhou city. The hotel facilities include 310 guestrooms, over 5,800 square feet of meeting space, three restaurants, a health club and spa as well as an outdoor swimming pool.
Story: Press release

Two hotel connected forums due, one in Shanghai, the other in Beijing.

On April 11 in Shanghai Interval International is organizing the Vacation Ownership Investment Conference (VOIC) at the St Regis Hotel which is shown here. Topics including timesharing, fractional ownership, private residence clubs, and condo-hotels.

Meanwhile IFCOT (International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism) will start May 13, 2007, in Beijing. IFCOT has become known as the top conference for the China (PRC) outbound market. This event receives support from PATA, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), China Tourism Association (CTA) and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Ctrip.com, a leading travel service provider for hotel accommodation, airline tickets and packaged tours in China has announced net revenues of RMB226 million (US$29 million) for the fourth quarter of 2006, up 45% year-on-year.

Hotel reservation revenues amounted to RMB138 million (US$18 million) for the fourth quarter of 2006 which is a 33% increase from the same period in 2005 and a 10% increase from the previous quarter. The total number of hotel room nights booked was approximately 1.94 million in the fourth quarter of 2006.

For the full year ended December 31, 2006, hotel reservation revenues were RMB476 million (US$61 million), a 31% increase from 2005. The total number of hotel room nights booked was approximately 6.84 million in 2006, compared to approximately 5.45 million booked in 2005.

Ctrip expects to continue the year-on-year net revenue growth at a rate of approximately 30%. Seems a pretty healthy forward picture.
Source: Digital 50