Hospitality leads way as tourism industry recovers
A hot spring resort hotel.
Hospitality has been the fastest sector to recover in the whole tourism industry in 2023, with its level almost equal to 2019, the China Tourism Association revealed recently.
Compared with tourist attractions, travel agency and the airlines sectors, the recovery level of the hospitality market has shown better performance this year, according to the association.
Hotel package orders for domestic destinations have soared more than 70 percent in 2023 from a year earlier, and the growth was 380 percent for overseas hotels, according to Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com.
The booking period has been significantly cut, with the number of orders from those making last-moment booking for accommodation a day later surging 71 percent from 2019, it said.
The Golden Week holidays in China were the major booster of hotel bookings, while destination cities had a better performance compared with first-tier cities, said Zhang Rungang, deputy director and secretary general of the association, at the year end.
China's hospitality industry is experiencing significant changes in 2023 with social media making an increasing number of niche destinations known to the public, said Zhang.
Aesthetics are a priority in hotel design.
"The popularity of destination hotels has put higher requirements on lifestyle products, which will become a major trend for the development of the industry," he said.
Recently, China's multi-brand hotel operator Huazhu Group said it had recorded more than 250 million visits in 2023. As one of the world's fastest-growing hotel groups, with 31 well-known hotel and apartment brands such as Hanting, Ji, Blossom House and Crystal Orange, Huazhu had four hotels opening daily on average in 2023.
The chain level of the industry is growing, which has hit 44 percent in first-tier cities. At its partnership conference, during which it mapped out its new development strategy, the group said its focus will lie in third-and-fourth-tier cities with huge development potential in 2024.
"We believe another golden investment period of the hospitality industry is emerging, and the advantage of brand and chain hotels is more obvious," said Ji Qi, founder of the group.
With digital technologies gaining increasing application in a wide range of sectors, a digital approach is reshaping the hospitality industry as well.
Huazhu, which operates more than 9,000 hotels in 18 countries as of the end of September, announced that it would develop a "super brain" at its hotel outlets with the application of artificial intelligence technologies to reconstruct the experience of guests and operations.
Modern and sleek designs in hotels.
