Chinais said to be struggling as it hosted 124 million tourists in 2006 which earnedthem $33.5 billion according to the China National Tourist Office.
‘It predicts that by 2015 it is set to become theworld’s top tourist destination, attracting 200 million visitors annually’ asreported by MSNBC.
In a conference in Hong Kong,Shao Qiwei, chairman of the China National Tourism Administration said “We’reputting an emphasis on tourism so we can increase domestic consumption andincrease living standards”.
The strategy is to boost domestic consumption as away of equalizing its economy and promote the country’s self-sufficiency ratherthan relying on exports.
Shao also added that currently, “Chinese now makeonly one domestic trip a year”, but foresees that to change and rise to 2.6billion trips within the decade.
Further, Shao cited that the ‘imbalance betweensupply and demand’ creates a shortage of trained and qualified resources toaccommodate the demand for tourism.
Holiday Inn, which is owned by IHG group, has expandedtheir operations to adapt to the changes.
The Hotel Property is looking into doubling theamount of its properties to 125 by end of 2008 according to Chinese media.
Following in Holiday Inn’s footsteps is Accor, Europe’s largest hotelier which has goal to reach 160hotels by 2010.
A potential oversupply of 5 star hotels in Beijing and Shanghai,Reuters report, it is prompting hotel companies to ‘switch their focus to thelower end of the market
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