Hoteliers move to reap anticipated dividends from B&R
Experts hailed the Belt and Road Initiative as a huge boon to the tourism and hospitality sectors at a recent industrial summit, and the hotel industry is now moving to reap the anticipated benefits.
“From the perspective of investors, the initiative is of far-reaching significance (to hoteliers),” He Cao, co-chairman of Asia Hotel Forum, told the 2017 AHF Hotel and Travel Investment Summit held in Beijing in late September.
China is forecast to report about 700 million outbound visits over the next five years, according to the China National Tourism Administration.
As a growing number of Chinese people opt to travel abroad, countries and regions involved in the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will see greater demand in the hotel industry, He said.
The former board chairman of Jinmao Investments & Jinmao (China) Investments Holding Ltd called on Chinese entrepreneurs to ride the wave and make an early move to seek opportunities, in response to the initiative.
“Costs will be much lower if you gain early advantages,” he said.
“Decisions on location and positioning are the first step”, before mature brands are exported, he added.
Asia is projected to contribute 28 percent to the global tourism market by 2020, becoming a major engine driving the global sector’s growth, said Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, at the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in mid-September.
Qian Jin, Hilton president of Greater China & Mongolia, told the two-day AHF summit that more than 5,000 hotels and resorts are running worldwide, with some 200 of them in the Asia-Pacific region and another 400 or so under construction.
When going global, Chinese hoteliers need to be clear what their core competencies are, Qin said.
Li Ruizhong, executive deputy general manager of Greenland International Hotel Group, cited a new Greenland property that opened in Cambodia in August as an example.
He said it illustrated that some B&R-related countries and regions, though rich in tourism resources, are short of facilities, including international hotels.
Sun Jian, chief development officer for greater China at InterContinental Hotels Group, said the Belt
Costs will be much lower if you gain early advantages.” He Cao, co-chairman of Asia Hotel Forum Where tourists flock to signals where capital flows.” Sun Jian, chief development officer for greater China at InterContinental Hotels Group Whatever business you are doing in China, you need to pay attention to the country’s economic policies.” Yin Xiaozhou, vice-president of Beijing Yintai Property
and Road Initiative is also conducive to his company’s expansion in western China, including Xi’an, Lanzhou, Xi’ning and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which are all located along the ancient Silk Road in Northwest China.
“Where tourists flock to signals where capital flows, and we hope to embrace the trend,” Sun said.
Yin Xiaozhou, vice-president of Beijing Yintai Property, said: “Whatever business you are doing in China, you need to pay attention to the country’s economic policies.”
The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013 to increase international cooperation, provides such a direction, which industry players need to look to, she said.
Tourism contributes more than 10 percent to China’s GDP, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
“There are enormous opportunities within the country, such as in western China and even in the South China Sea,” said Yan Qingguang, senior vice-president of real estate & development at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
“Over the next 10 to 30 years, the biggest opportunities still remain in China.”