For Accor, the largest hotel management group in Europe, the year 2004 could be called the " China Year."

The company invested in its first economy hotel in China in April and put a new five-star hotel in east China's Anhui Province under its Sofitel series. In addition, it has another eight hotels in China waiting for opening.

"We plan to make the logo of Accor appear in every city of the Chinese mainland," said Shao Dong, vice president of Accor International Hotel Group.

The company has set its feet on not only in Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan, but also in central and western parts of the country, like Chengdu and Xi'an.

The tremendous potential of tourism development in China is attracting international hotel managing groups like Accor to expand networks in the country.

Statistics show that the consumption of international and domestic business travel reached 200 billion yuan (US$24 billion) in China in recent years, the same level with European countries like France and Germany.

Marriott Group, which is among the world's top 500 and manages more than 2,800 hotels all over the world, planned to open seven hotels in China in the coming year. Besides Beijing and Shanghai, it also set its eyes on cities including Sanya, Tianjin, Wuhan and Suzhou. Marriott now manages 34 hotels with seven brands in China.

The World Tourism Organization predicted that China will become the biggest tourism destination country in 2020, surpassing France, Spain and the United States.

Paul Tubrule, co-founder of Accor Group, said that Accor will build 200 star hotels in China in the next 10 years and try to look for opportunities to enter the country's travel agent service industry.

(eastday.com May 31, 2004)