OLYMPICS /
Olympic Nation
12,000 foreign capital hotel rooms in Beijing
Updated: 2008-07-24 11:14
BEIJING - The Beijing hotel market now has more than 12,000 guest rooms operated with foreign capital, attracted by the quick development of the city's tourism market and the great push created by the upcoming Olympic Games, a survey released here on Wednesday showed.
The number is a new record for the city's hotel market, said the survey conducted by real estate management firm Jones Lang LaSalle.
"Although the large number of foreign capital hotel rooms deployed in Beijing will have a negative influence on their local counterparts, the booming and smooth development of China's economy and tourism industry will promote a bright future," it said.
The average cost of a five-star hotel room had risen for six consecutive years, the survey said. In July, the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau listed the average price of a five-star hotel room in the city as 3,263 yuan (477 U.S. dollars), 2.6 percent higher than a year earlier.
Because of the low cost and great potential of other Chinese cities, international investors have also been finding opportunities outside of Beijing and Shanghai, said a Jones Lang LaSalle China senior official.
"Many foreign investors want to establish joint ventures with local hotels because of the increasing shortage of land (for hotels) in China," he said.