Shapes of Tourism Employment

7International Hotel Groups and their Entrenchment in Mainland China

7.1. The development of international hotels in China

Stimulated by the adoption of the reform and the policy of openness, a group of joint ventures initiated the construction and development of hotels in China. Peninsula Hong Kong, which took over the management of the Jianguo Hotel in Beijing in 1982, was the first international hotel group to enter the Chinese market. Thereafter, the main international hotel chains began to establish themselves there until 2017, when the first 10 groups had already introduced most of their brands in China, managing more than 600 hotels.

Due to their advanced management system (brand operation, service management and human resource management), international hotel groups are prevailing on the Chinese market. For example, among the top 10 players that newly opened hotels in China in 2017, according to a report [MTA 17b], 90% are international hotel chains (Figure 7.1).

In particular, with the rapid growth of Chinese domestic tourism and business travel, the development of international hotel groups is expected to continue to grow in the future. At the beginning of 2018, these actors published their development objectives and strategies for this area in the coming years.

For example, Radisson Blu has announced its intention to triple the number of hotels operating in the Chinese market by 2022, while Hilton aims to manage eight times more hotels than it currently does in ...