Beijing's hospitality market is expected to reach record
revenues and occupancy rates in 2008 thanks to the Olympics.
Industry organizations are making great efforts to improve
service quality in the capital's hotels for the event, expected to
draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, said a local government
official on Friday.
"Beijing's hospitality industry has experienced rapid growth in
the last two years, and the momentum will continue in the lead-up
to and even after the Olympics," said Xiong Yumei, deputy-director
of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism (BMBT).
Beijing's hotels enjoyed good business throughout 2005, with
five-star hotels witnessing the highest average daily revenue 1,204
yuan (US$150), with an occupancy rate of 75.3 percent since 1994.
Top-level hotels also had the highest ever revenue per available
room 907 yuan (US$113) according to a report released by Jones Lang
LaSalle Hotels, a leading worldwide service provider in the hotel
and tourism sector.
"Market growth is positive and encouraging, and as the 2008
Olympics draw near, more and more tourists both from home and
abroad will come to Beijing," said Stephen C. T. Hsu, vice-chairman
of China Tourism Hotel Association. "Hotel management standards and
service quality will also be gradually upgraded over the next two
years."
In 2008, Beijing is expected to welcome more than 500,000
overseas and 1 million domestic travellers.
"Those figures are conservative estimates last year more than
1.5 million domestic travelers visited Beijing during the major
holiday periods alone," said Xiong.
By 2008 the number of hotels in the city is expected to have
grown to more than 800, from the present 548, which includes 37
five-star hotels and 83 four-star hotels, according to BMBT
figures. The current number of available beds is 570,000.
Among the expected more than 1.5 million visitors, 50,000 will
come with organizations sponsoring the Olympics, their
accommodation will be provided by the Beijing Organizing Committee
for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad at four and five-star
hotels.
This means most other visitors will have to stay at less
luxurious hotels.
"Generally speaking, many of Beijing's hotels meet international
service standards, but that is not enough," said Xiong. "The most
urgent thing right now is to improve service quality in all hotels,
especially the city's inns, to meet visitors' demands. That is what
we are actively and carefully working on."
The BMBT has set up an Olympics Visitor Accommodation
Arrangement Team to study service in Beijing's low-end hotels and
inns. The team will release service guidelines for the hotels to
enhance service quality.
"By the end of October, we will grant certificates to 300
hotels, and by 2008, we will have certified around 1,000,"
predicted Xiong.
The bureau has published several books listing details on
services in the hospitality sector during the Olympics, and has
distributed them to the hotels and inns for use as training
programmes.
(China Daily September 30, 2006)