Ritz-Carlton Hotel plans to expand the number of its luxury brand hotels on the mainland, in Macau and in Hong Kong from four to nine within two years.
The United States-based company, which manages more than 70 hotels worldwide, has four hotels on the mainland - two in Beijing, and one each in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Its new Guangzhou hotel will open for business on Tuesday and another hotel will open later in the year in Sanya, Hainan province.
'At the present time Asia, and China specifically, is the fastest-growing region for us in terms of number of hotels, followed by the Middle East,' said Simon Cooper, Ritz-Carlton's president and chief operating officer.
Under construction is a second hotel for the group in Shanghai-Pudong, a Macau hotel and a Hong Kong Ritz-Carlton - a replacement for the recently closed Central hotel - in the International Commerce Centre (ICC) in Kowloon. That is expected to be launched in 2010.
Mr Cooper said the group was investigating additional prospects in other mainland cities where international traffic, sporting drawcards or international fairs would support additional investments in luxury hotels.
Four years ago, Ritz-Carlton targeted a location in the heart of the Pearl River New City area, the Tianhe District in Guangzhou, to build a 40-storey hotel set to open for the 2010 Asian Games in the city.