More Ritz glitz in China
BEIJING — Ritz-Carlton expects to open seven hotels in China and triple the country’s share of its total revenue to almost 20 percent by 2010, according to the company’s president and chief operating officer, Simon Cooper.
The luxury hotel operator, owned by Maryland-based Marriott International, is opening its fourth China property in Beijing next week, marking the start of a major expansion in mainland China and Hong Kong.
The Wall Street Journal said the expansion comes as hotel companies race to grab a share of China’s travel market ahead of the Olympics next year.
The number of domestic trips taken by Chinese in 2006 rose 15 percent from 2005, to 1.2 billion, according to London-based market researcher Euromonitor International. The firm estimates that number will reach two billion by 2011.
In addition to the Beijing location, Ritz-Carlton plans to open hotels in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and the southern resort city of Sanya in the next three months.
New properties in Shanghai, Macau and Hong Kong are to follow.
Cooper said Ritz-Carlton’s growth strategy isn’t only to fill its new hotels with domestic travellers but to build the Ritz-Carlton brand within China so the rising number of outbound Chinese tourists will stay at Ritz-Carlton properties abroad.
“I think you’re going to find a very sophisticated outbound Chinese traveller who is going to seek out luxury hotels wherever they go,” he said. “As people acquire wealth [and] sophistication, they will graduate from staying at low- to midprice hotels.”
Ritz-Carlton’s new hotel in Beijing is fully booked for the Olympics.
Ian Jarrett
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