There is a long and detailed report in 4Hoteliers dealing with economy hotels in China. It is very comprehensive and some of the facts are fascinating and surprising. For example, despite all of the activity and profitability dealt with in the report one fact stands out:

Currently, economy hotels represent just 10% of the overall hotel industry in China. Which means it has a long, long way to grow.

The report states that since the first opened in 1997, economy hotels in mainland China have spread far and wide. To a small extent his is because of tourism, both from overseas and, more importantly, domestic.

China has become an important tourism destination in Asia and the fifth-largest tourism country in the world. However, domestic tourism alone generated US$781.9 billion last year, nearly 20 times the revenue of 2000.

A study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Tourism Research Center showed that 90% of economy hotel guests are domestic travelers and 10% are inbound travelers.

This study also reported that business travelers are the major demand generators for economy hotels, representing roughly 65% of the economy hotel market in 2006.

The meeting and group contingent comprised 9% of the total, and leisure demand generated the remaining 26%.

To read this detailed and fascinating report click on Source.
Source: 4Hoteliers

The head of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) Shao Qiwei, pictured here, has said the country’s fast-developing tourism industry is expected to boost the hotel sector.

He said this will mean about 200,000 new hotels, resorts and guesthouses are likely to be built by 2015.

Addressing a seminar on domestic and international hotels’ groups, he said the new structures will include about 10,000 star-rated hotels. The number of five-star hotels in the country is expected to rise from 361 to 500.

Shao Qiwei said, ‘The World Tourism Organization has forecast that China will grow into a huge tourism market, and have 100 million each of inbound and outbound visitors and 2.8 billion domestic tourists by 2015.’

The booming tourism market has created the need for new hotels and other infrastructure facilities.

The general manager of Traders Hotel at China World Trade Center in Beijing, Xin Tao, said Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts plan to open five new facilities in the country this year, and at least 13 more in big cities such Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an in the near future. That is at least 40 new hotels in the country by 2011.

She said, ‘The Olympic Games has brought us unlimited business opportunities and the increase of leisure, as well as business, travel in China will add to the appeal of hotel operators.’

The CNTA has forecast that investment from home and abroad into hotels will hit RMB340 billion ($47.14 billion) between 2006 and 2010.

The hotel sector was one of the first to be opened up in China, with Jianguo Hotel in Beijing being the first foreign-invested hotel to be approved by the State Council in 1979.

Since then, 67 hotel brands of 41 international groups have entered the country and are managing 516 hotels at present.

By the end of last year there were more than 14,000 star-rated hotels, 100 times more than in 1978.
Source: China Daily

Chinese officials say they have the world’s largest domestic tourism market based upon number of travelers. And the World Trade Organization says China will probably become the number one international tourist destination by 2020.

It is interesting that although China’s attractions in China draw tourists from around the world the Chinese themselves constitute the bulk of the visitors in their own country. China’s National Tourist Office recorded more than a billion domestic travelers in 2006. That means the size of the domestic tourism industry in China has nearly doubled in this decade alone.

Chinese tourists are also seeking novel adventures. Some tourists have come to the desert on the outskirts of Dunhuang, an outpost of the ancient Silk Road. They are camel trekking, some 1800 kilometers from Beijing as shown in our illustration.

Tourist operator Zhou Haijun says more people want to feel the open spaces of nature. ‘Before, people liked comfortable conditions in hotels. Now there are more people who like to get closer to nature, get inside nature. This concept has come from people loving and caring for the environment.’
Source: Voice of America

For the first time ever, 31 leading Chinese tourism officials met with more than three dozen U.S. state tourism directors during a day long summit in Charlotte, North Carolina, to explore ways for the two countries to increase cooperation on travel-related matters.

In 2006, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, China and the U.S. shared a total of 3.68 million visits, (this includes visitors to and from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). But with the rapidly growing exchange between the two countries in trade, culture, education and health care, tourism exchange between the both countries has a great potential and a bright future.

The summit also explored ways to improve structures between the national tourism administrations of the two countries. Efforts were made to actively explore opportunities for cooperation and exchange among the Chinese provinces and the American states.

Roger J. Dow, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Travel Industry Association and seen in our illustration, based in Washington, DC. said, ‘We can learn a lot from each other. During the next 10 years, the amount of travelers from both countries is expected to grow significantly. It makes sense that we explore ways to encourage travel to our respective countries.’

The summit was arranged by the Travel Industry Association (TIA), in conjunction with the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). The National Council of State Tourism Directors, an industry council housed within and administrated by TIA, also participated in the summit.
Source: Hospitality News

31 leading Chinese tourism officials met with more than three dozen U.S. state tourism directors during a day long summit in Charlotte, NC, to explore ways for the two countries to increase cooperation on travel-related matters.

The idea is to increase the two-way tourist traffic volume between the two countries. In 2006, China and U.S. combined reached a total of 2.35 million visits.

Efforts were made to actively explore opportunities for cooperation and exchange among the Chinese provinces and the American states.

Dr. Du Jiang, Vice Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration, led the delegation of 31 tourism directors from various provinces, municipalities and regions of China.

During the next ten years, the number of travelers from both countries is expected to grow significantly.
Source: Hotel Interactive

The number of overseas visitors to Beijing reached 3.2 million in the first nine months of this year, up 12.6% from a year earlier.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics said in a statement that the figure breaks down into 2.8 million foreign tourists, up 14%, and 400,000 tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 4.1%.

The United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea remain the three largest sources of overseas tourists to Beijing, with the numbers standing at 444,000, 435,000 and 341,000 respectively, up 19.4%, 22% and 7%.

It is thought that ‘Olympic factors’ have mainly boosted the tourism growth. The amount of publicity that Beijing is getting in the foreign press is unparalleled.

More visitors are expected to come to Beijing next year when the games actually happen.

According to BOCOG, which is running the games, China will host 280,000 athletes, referees, journalists and other workers from more than 200 countries and regions.

The official estimate is that about five million overseas tourists and more than 120 million domestic travelers will visit Beijing in 2008.
Source: China View

By 2020, China will replace traditional tourist destinations, and rank as the world’s first, according to one somewhat optimistic analysis. Others are more cautious but there is little doubt that China will, for the foreseeable future, remain permanently in the top five of world tourist destinations.

Chinese tourist officials are even more optimistic. Perhaps this massive optimism could be put down to the Olympics and Expo effect.

Shao Qiwei, director of the State Tourism Bureau and seen here, said that by as early as 2015, China will become the world’s largest country welcoming tourists, and the fourth largest source of outbound tourists.

Possibly. Perhaps. Maybe.
Source: People’s Daily Online

To develop tourism in the Three Gorges Dam region China will invest RMB26.9 billion between 2007 and 2020. The funding is aimed at developing tourism in the region to provide jobs for local people.

The forecast is this investment will generate a RMB20 billion return, or 24.7% of the area’s gross domestic product, by 2020.

Li Chunming, vice-governor of China’s Hubei province, is reported as saying that booming tourism will provide jobs and economic growth without posing a threat to the fragile ecological environment.

The money will be used to improve tourist ferry services along the valley, build roads and docks to form a traffic network and improve other tourist facilities around the Three Gorges Dam.

Spanning the Yangtze River, the hydroelectric dam is the largest structure of its kind in the world, more than five times the size of the Hoover Dam.
Source: Opodo

With the Olympic Games scheduled to hit Beijing next year, major hotel companies have scrambled to get new properties in China open in time.

Hilton Hotels operates six hotels in China (the one in Beijing is shown here), but will more than double that in the next few years. In late August it announced an agreement to manage a new Hilton in the Wangfujing district of Beijing, set to open next year, and also has scheduled to open in 2008 a Doubletree in Beijing, a Conrad in Shanghai and a Doubletree in Kunshan, as well as a resort and spa in Chongqing. Three other Hiltons are set to open in China by 2011. In June, a joint venture of one of Deutsche Bank’s investment arms and private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific agreed to create and manage more than 25 hotels in mainland China under Hilton’s mid-price Hilton Garden Inn brand.
InterContinental Hotels now has 67 hotels open. IHG plans to nearly double that by next year, and future growth is particularly focused on Crowne Plaza.
Marriott International now has 27 properties in China, according to company spokesman John Wolf, and by 2010 will have 15 more: six under the Marriott brand, three under the Renaissance brand, two under the JW Marriott brand and four under Marriott’s mid-price Courtyard brand. In addition, the company will open six of its luxury Ritz-Carlton properties in China by 2010.
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has announced plans to open in China 15 new properties — three Park Hyatt hotels, three Grand Hyatt hotels and nine Hyatt Regency hotels. China already has more Hyatt properties than any other country outside of North America.
Wyndham Hotel Group has announced an Asia-focused investment management firm is investing $50 million in the master franchisor of the Super 8 brand in China, Tian Rui Hotel Corp. The franchisor already has opened 49 Super 8 properties in China and has agreements in place to develop 67 more.

Even with all those growth plans in place, however, travel managers said the region would continue to be a challenge as travel to the region increases. Travel managers often have to look outside of hotel offerings when planning Asia/Pacific travel.
Source: Business Travel News Online

The forecast was that China would overtake France as the number one tourism destination in 2020. That, perhaps, now needs to be updated. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO) China will probably do it by 2014.

Xu Jing, the WTO’s Asia-Pacific representative, said China is set to overtake the US, currently in third place, this year in terms of foreign visitor arrivals.

And then comes the Olympics and Expo 2010. That will, Xu Jing said, give it another shot in the arm so that China will nip past France for pole position by 2014.

In 1978 the number of foreign visitors to China was just 300,000. The writer was one of them.
In 2006 it reached 22 million. And that, note carefully, excludes arrivals from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. These figures are from the China National Tourism Administration but are in accordance with figures from other sources.

France has had a bit of a slow down in tourism growth. That is more and more tourists still go there but the rate of increase is not what it was. Meanwhile, China has been enjoying double-digit expansion for years, with the number of tourist arrivals doubling in the past five years alone.

Foreign tour operators and airlines are expanding services to meet growing demand in Beijing and across the country. Eric Bouladou, Asian manager for French firm Nouvelles Frontieres, said, ‘Our China business has grown 20 per cent annually over recent years.’

What could throw these figures off is the advent of ultra-cheap flights and fast trains around Europe. For example, RyanAir this week is actually giving away seats to assorted places on its, admittedly spartan, flights.

And the air fares to France are set to tumble further when the two hour train service through the Channel Tunnel comes into operation in October. Then some people are seriously thinking of practically commuting to work. Live a long weekend in Paris but have two or three days working week in London.

If that happens the French figures will get a shot in the arm. Which means that China will not pass France in tourist figures until the date originally forecast — 2020.
Source: TTN