China’s star-rated hotels, with over 1.6 million room capacity, are at the crossroads of capitalizing on opportunities brought by explosive growth in the tourism sector while overcoming challenges from changing consumption patterns in China. This was the main topic discussed at the 4th World Hotel Association Conference and the 8th World Hotel Forum.
4th World Hotel Association Conference and the 8th World Hotel Forum
China Hotel Association’s vice chairman Xiaochuan Chen said China’s star-rated hotels count as of end 2004 was 12,500, 4,000 of them were of four-star and five-star categories. As Chinese travelers are expected to make 4.5 trips per person per year by 2020, doubling the current level of 2.4 trips per person per year, the tourism industry is presented with immense opportunities.
However, hotels continued to face pressure to change their operational direction to weather the State’s austerity and anti-corruption measures, Mr. Chen said: “Nationally, hotels in northern regions tend to achieve higher earnings than their counterparts in the southern region this year, and those in the southeastern region that have a high concentration of businesses with foreign links have been hit harder by the policies.”
China Tourism Association’s secretary general Shijun Liu said factors such as lackluster global economic recovery and economic slowdown at home continued to impact China’s hotel industry in recent years. Uncoordinated hotel supplies caused by the
lack of long-term planning and insufficient government regulation and control, that resulted in oversupply in some areas, dragged down consumption in hotels and led to overall decline in hotels’ operational results, signaling the increasingly need for hotels to make relevant transition and upgrades.(Translation by David)
