As the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games looms, foreign luxury hotel brands are eyeing opportunities associated with the event and beefing up efforts to open hotels in China, especially in the host cities of the sports event.
International leading hotel company InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) held an official opening of the HUALUXE Zhangjiakou on April 26 in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province, one of the host cities for the event, IHG CEO Richard Solomons told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Sitting at the center of Zhangjiakou, the HUALUXE Zhangjiakou becomes IHG's 300th property in its greater China region and also the first upscale international hotel in the city, according to a statement the company sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.
The hotel is 8 kilometers from the Zhangjiakou railway station and 12 kilometers from the airport, said the statement.
"Global events like the 2022 Winter Olympics Games herald a great opportunity for the development of Zhangjiakou, especially in the tourism and hospitality industry," Solomons said.
Kenneth Macpherson, CEO of IHG greater China region, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the city also boasts of natural scenery that attracts Beijing residents to visit during weekends and holidays.
To better accommodate the sports event, a high-speed railway connecting the city with Beijing is under construction. "I'm told that it will take about 43 minutes to travel from Beijing to Zhangjikou, making the city a more attractive destination for tourism," Macpherson added.
Solomons stressed that the launch of the HUALUXE Zhangjiakou will play a very important role in raising the bar for the hotel industry and the entire services sector in the city. It will also create hundreds of jobs in the city and contribute to its economic growth.
The company is confident on the prospects of the Chinese market, according to Solomons.
"China is our second-largest market after the U.S. and also the fastest-growing one," Solomons said. "Tourism has been identified as a strategic core industry in China's 13th Five-year Plan period (2016-20). This will be a boon for the hospitality industry, not to mention the rise of the middle class in the country."
