Beijing, Aug 07: Tourist and business arrivals are up and are predicted to rise more, Asia's low cost airlines are starting to fly and Beijing is gearing up for the 2008 Olympics.
And in a private poll, 78 percent of 515 voters said business travel to China would increase a lot in the next five years. With an eye on future demand, droves of hoteliers are clambering for a foothold in the Middle Kingdom -- not just in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou but in secondary destinations as well.
Already, big cities from Xiamen to Chengdu are in the middle of a hotel construction boom, with hundreds of new accommodation blocks being erected.
"We believe that China is developing dramatically and will do so in the next 20 years, so we want to be part of it," Bernd Chorengel of Hyatt International Corp. told.
Recent deregulation of ownership has helped. Now overseas corporations can own their hotels outright instead of engaging local partners.
Bureau Report
