Accor eyes move into scenic sites

By Bloomberg (China Daily) Updated: 2014-05-28 06:56

Accor SA will build about a third of its 100 planned Chinese hotels in tourist destinations as rising wealth in the country leads to growing leisure travel and oversupply in cities depresses room tariffs.

Domestic tourism in the country is "growing at a rate of knots," Michael Issenberg, chairman of Accor Asia-Pacific region, said in a May 22 interview in Sydney. That's making tourist spots more attractive than many urban sites, he said.

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"If people acquire wealth, they want to travel," Issenberg said. "That's been the big change. Even five years ago, it was all cities."

Europe's largest hotel operator has opened sites on ski slopes near the North Korean border, a beach resort on the tropical Hainan island and a central Chinese forest park among its 128 hotels in the country.

That will help it capitalize on domestic tourist trips that are forecast to grow by about 11 percent a year between 2013 and 2018, according to data from Euromonitor International.

Other international leisure companies are also targeting China's domestic tourist market. Carnival Corp will dispatch a fourth cruise ship to the country next April and Walt Disney Co plans to open a $5.5 billion theme park resort in Shanghai in 2015.

Hennes & Mauritz AB, the Swedish fashion chain, has opened a store in Zhangjiajie, which serves central Hunan province's scenic Wulingyuan national park. The town is also home to an Accor Pullman hotel.

China overtook Germany in 2012 to become the largest outbound tourism market, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. International spending by Chinese travelers rose 26 percent during 2013 to $129 billion, the agency said on May 14.

Expansion by domestic and international companies in China has slowed some hotel operators' ability to increase room rates.