Hyatt Hotels lays out plan to double its Asia-Pacific presence
- New York-listed Hyatt says it plans to double its presence in China and surrounding areas over the next four years
- Hotel group says its strategy involves tapping the growing appetite for domestic travel on the mainland, which reached 5.54 billion trips last year
Hyatt Hotels, one of the world’s largest luxury hospitality companies, plans to double its capacity in regions that include China within the next four years, according to the head of the company’s Asia-Pacific operations.
A key part of the hotel group’s strategy is domestic tourism in China, as data from the newly formed Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows the travel bug is beginning to hit a tipping point, according to David Udell, president Asia-Pacific, Hyatt Hotels.
The ministry announced that domestic travel within China had grown to 5.54 billion trips in 2018, a rise of 10.8 per cent from 2017. The travel boom generated revenue of US$764 billion, a 12.3 per cent rise from 2017. Chinese international travel also saw a significant increase in 2018, with the number of outbound trips from the mainland rising to 149.7 million, a 14.7 per cent increase on year.
“As of May 2019, we have 74 hotels or 21,021 rooms in Greater China today, and we plan to double our presence in China over the next four years, with a pipeline of 27,000 rooms, which represents nearly a third of our global development pipeline,” Udell said.
Hyatt chief executive Mark Hoplamazian told CNBC last week that China’s domestic tourism market was of vital importance, noting that domestic tourists accounted for an important share of occupancy at its hotels in the mainland.
As part of the planned expansion, he said Hyatt planned to hire “tens of thousands” of new employees on the mainland.