InterContinental Hotels Group plans to double its presence in Greater China to over 250 hotels over the next five years.

Published: 01 Jul 2010

InterContinental Hotels Group plans to double its presence in Greater China to over 250 hotels over the next five years.

IHG is currently the largest international hotel company in Greater China with 131 hotels (45,940 rooms) open and a further 146 hotels (47,848 rooms) in the development pipeline.

“This year we are opening over 30 hotels in Greater China,” said InterContinental Hotels Group CEO, Andy Cosslett. “This includes seven InterContinental, seven Crowne Plaza and the debut of Hotel Indigo in an outstanding location on the Bund in the centre of Shanghai, following our strategy to develop an upscale presence in key locations. Our upscale hotels in Greater China have an average room count of 350, significantly larger than our other markets, with the vast majority being managed by IHG. This gives us a highly profitable and significant business in China with annual gross hotel revenues in excess of US$1 billion."

The group highlighted that Greater China has rebounded quickly from the industry downturn.

During its first quarter trading update in May, IHG reported RevPAR growth for Greater China of 22.2% and 27.1% in April.

The group also mentioned that a recent guideline issued by China's State Council confirmed the Chinese Government has established tourism as a key economic pillar, with a total of 25 national and regional development plans in place with tourism as a strategic focus. The government is also investing US$120 billion in its railway network, laying over 85,000 kilometres of freeway and constructing 97 new airports to upgrade the transport infrastructure across the country.