Hilton hotels heading for roll in China

Hilton Group, the US-based hospitality chain, is launching a mid-scale brand called Hilton Garden Inn in China to cater to the needs of the fast-growing number of business travelers.

Francis Lee Wee-Hau, senior vice-president of Development, Greater China and Mongolia, for Hilton Worldwide, said the brand will be launched in five Chinese cities, including Lijiang, Chengdu, Harbin,

Dandong and Huzhou, and will be expanded later to more second- and third-tier cities.

Meanwhile, the group is also planning to open the doors of its contemporary luxury hotel in downtown Beijing later this year. The hotel, the company's fifth Conrad hotel in China under the Hilton Hotel & Resorts brand, is part of the group's expansion strategy to cash in on the fast-growing and lucrative Chinese tourism market.

"Across the 289 rooms in the hotel, we have 'smart luxury' as our core philosophy," said Alex Kassantly, general manager of Beijing Conrad Hotel.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts is also on track to achieve its ambition of expanding its presence from the current 32 hotels on the Chinese mainland with more than 12,000 rooms to more than 150 properties with 55,000 rooms in the next several years, he added. By 2015, the group will have hotels in 75 cities across the country.

Yang Honghao, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy, said in a report on China's hotel industry that the country has 60,000 hotels with 14,000 given stars. By the end of 2010, nearly 70 international hospitality brands from 41 countries and regions had entered the Chinese market, managing about 20 percent of the country's top-end hotels and taking 80 percent of the profits, according to Yang.

With only four brands present in China at the moment among its 10 hotel brands, Hilton Worldwide is working on introducing more brands to China.

The variety of brands will suit the rising needs of the Chinese travelers, said Bruce Mckenzie, senior vice-president, operations of greater China and Mongolia, Hilton Worldwide, adding "We plan to open around 10 properties this year (in China) and expect to accelerate the pace of growth moving forward."

Hilton's rapid development in the country is in contrast with the slowdown of other international brands during the global economic recovery.

The Chinese hotel market has been showing the strain, especially in the luxury and five-star markets, according to Horwath HTL China, a hotel, tourism and leisure consultancy.

It said the burgeoning demand and the incredible demographic advantages in a country the size of China will help ease operating conditions and improve performance across other markets.

Unlike other international hotel brands, Hilton has often been termed a laggard in China. The company is, however, unperturbed by the tag and has set its sights on remote regions in China, which have few high-end hotels currently, rather than popular or top destinations such as Sanya city in Hainan island.

"There is no doubt that the hospitality industry has been affected by the economic environment, but that crisis also means an opportunity," Mckenzie said.

According to him, opportunities are still aplenty in China as room supply is still lower than demand. His confidence also comes from the government's plan to increase residents' income during the next seven years.

"Higher personal income means more travel, both domestic and international, requiring more hotels in both business and leisure destinations," Mckenzie said.

As the second biggest market for InterContinental Hotels Group after the United States, China is expected to have the same number of hotel rooms as the United States by 2025, said Richard Solomons, chief executive of IHG.

In 2012, the group saw its businesses in China growing rapidly, with operating profit up 21 percent. Of its 1,053 properties under development globally, more than half are based in China. Last year the hotel group created luxury hotel brand HUALUXE hotels and resorts specifically for the Chinese with a plan to reach 100 cities across China.

"It is easy to come in and put hotels everywhere," said Solomons. "But we turned down more deals than those we signed in China. We have to get a real understanding of what drives growth and success. We need to understand what is right for long-term development."

The fact that Chinese customers have a bigger demand for value also requires hoteliers to position their brands more clearly, he said.

At the same time, it is also important for the hoteliers to play the local card to make their businesses successful as more than half of the revenue comes not from room rents but meeting and weddings, said Solomons.

"I think we want to become a Chinese business and eventually say our Chinese business is bigger than our American business," he said.

But one of the major challenges for China's hotel industry is human resources. "Human capital is a key factor that supports Hilton's expansion in the Chinese market," said Mckenzie.

But China's labor market lends itself to a shorter-than-average employee retention rate, as well as fierce competition for trained and qualified service personnel, said Mckenzie.

Hospitality companies need to invest more in building human capital and grooming the talent required to manage expanded operations, he said.

IHG also considers the biggest shortage is people. "The hospitality business is not about the building but the experience," said Solomons, chief executive of IHG. "To get the right people in right training and encourage them to stay on in the industry is important," he said.

Source: By Wang Wen and Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions.

Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.

A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850 km. This is made up of 6,259 km sections of actual wall, 359 km of trenches and 2,232 km of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km.

Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from rammed earth, stones, and wood. During the Ming Dynasty, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone.

The size and weight of the bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. Additionally, bricks could bear more weight and endure better than rammed earth. Stone can hold under its own weight better than brick, but is more difficult to use.

Consequently, stones cut in rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer brims, and gateways of the wall. Battlements line the uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over 30 cm tall, and about 23 cm wide.

While some portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even extensively renovated, in many locations the Wall is in disrepair.  Those parts might serve as a village playground or a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction.

 Source: Fotopedia

Forbidden City breaks down another barrier

Source: By Qu Yingpu, Zhao Huanxin and Yu Yilei (China Daily)

Once a fortress that no one could enter or leave without the emperor's permission, the Forbidden City is set to welcome visitors to another of its secluded zones. Our editorial team comprising Qu Yingpu, Zhao Huanxin and Yu Yilei gets a peek at what awaits.

The world will soon get to see more of the intriguing Forbidden City, home to generations of Chinese emperors spanning five centuries - at no extra cost.

With the opening of the secluded residence of empresses and imperial concubines, which lies to the west of Longzong Gate, visitors will enter into some of the crucial quarters of the Inner Court - once prohibited and punishable by death.

The decision to open up parts of the Inner Court to tourists is part of efforts by the world's largest palace complex to cater to the interests of the increasing number of visitors, curator Shan Jixiang said on Thursday.

The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. It has been known as the Palace Museum since 1925, soon after Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was evicted from the Inner Court.

"We received 14 million guests last year and expect to have 1 million more than that figure this year," Shan, former chief of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"We plan to expand the visiting zones from nearly half to two-thirds (of the Forbidden City) in the near future."

Located near the halfway point of the central north-south axis, Longzong Gate was the main entrance to the Palace of Benevolent Peace (Cining Gong) as well as the Palace of Longevity and Good Health (Shoukang Gong), on the western side of the museum.

The two palaces were formerly the residence and venues for entertainment and rituals for empresses and concubines in the Qing Dynasty.

What's in store has aroused as much curiosity as historical evidence of two arrow heads stuck on the gate since 1813 when rebellious farmers attacked the Forbidden City.

Reparation and restoration of the two palaces have been completed and workers are putting final touches to the adjoining Garden of Benevolent Peace. The palaces will open to the public along with the garden after renovation of the garden is completed at the end of this year, Shan said.

"The Palace of Longevity and Good Health will be presented as it would have appeared in dynastic times, while the Palace of Benevolent Peace will showcase a rich collection of sculptures," he added.

After being the home of 24 emperors - 14 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and 10 during the Qing Dynasty, the site that is now the Palace Museum is laden with legends and anecdotes, said Lin Shu, a researcher with the museum's department of palatial life and imperial rituals.

A one-story building in the Garden of Benevolent Peace, for instance, will tell the filial story of emperor Qianlong, who left his residence to stay there through the night to wait on his ailing mother. According to Lin, the emperor apparently made frequent visits for a month until his mother recovered. At a time, it was very rare for an emperor to leave his official residence.

More safety and exhibits

Nearly nine times as large as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Palace Museum welcomes the majority of visitors to its central north-south axis and southern Outer Court, where its ceremonial palaces are concentrated.

Besides the Palace of Benevolent Peace and the Palace of Longevity and Good Health, most quarters on the western and eastern sides of the imperial site are inaccessible to visitors, though an array of halls on both sides are open to showcase a fine collection of rare and valuable works of art.

The out-of-bounds zones are either under repair or used as offices, stores or for research purposes, according to museum sources.

Shan and his team vowed to change the situation.

"The research and office facilities have occupied a good part of the walled enclosure of the Palace Museum," said Shan. "They must move out and make room to exhibit our cultural relics."

The Palace Museum now holds a total of 1.8 million artifacts, of which over 93 percent are designated as nationally protected "valuable cultural relics", Shan cited from the museum's latest audit findings.

The area within the 8-meter-tall red walls accounts for two-thirds of the entire complex of the Palace Museum. If all the research, office and service personnel as well as materials within the walls are removed as planned by 2016, authorities could install better security measures to prevent thefts and fires, the curator added.

A notorious incident last May in which a 27-year-old farmer stole art from the museum has sparked public concerns over security loopholes in the Forbidden City.

Shan, appointed curator in February, pledged to employ "the world's most advanced security equipment and technology" and improve his employees' awareness of their responsibilities.

"Safety, especially fire prevention, is always our priority," Shan stressed.

To illustrate his point, Shan picked up a cigarette butt from the ground before entering the red walls that house the Palace of Benevolent Peace, and pointed to cameras hidden under the eaves of some buildings.

The fear of fire has been a constant threat for centuries and caused people to become superstitious. For example, almost all roofs in the Forbidden City are built with yellow glazed tiles symbolizing royalty, but the library at the Pavilion of Literary Profundity (Wenyuan Ge) had dark-colored tiles. The reason was that dark colors were associated with water, symbolic of fire prevention.

Better services

Standing near Longzong Gate, Shan said service booths selling food, drinks and souvenirs will be erected on the square for visitors once the gate is open. Currently, there is a temporary snack bar on the other side of the gate, which is less accessible to tourists, especially on windy days, Shan said.

He acknowledged that doing business in the museum had struck a raw nerve among some Chinese, who have a special attachment to the Palace Museum.

For example, the stall that served delicious but expensive beef noodles was shut down, and a Starbucks outlet that opened in 2000 was eventually closed after seven years due to a public outcry.

"Starbucks, McDonald's and other brands are considered sensitive (to many people), but their presence is not uncommon in museums in other countries," Shan said. "We have hordes of visitors from all over the world every day, often spending several hours in the museum, and they need different kinds of food and drinks."

The important thing for the museum is to ensure the needs of the visitors are well addressed, and the food served is healthy and diverse, Shan said. "We will not specify the brands. We care more about the variety and quality."

A former tour guide in Beijing, who identified herself only as Lu, said whenever she led tour groups from the southern entrance of the Meridian Gate (Wumen), all the way up to the northern exit of Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen), many sang the praises of the spectacular palaces. But there were also others who complained of the lack of "priceless relics".

Shan said an exhibition hall spanning nearly 3,000 square meters will be created by using the space on the Meridian Gate and its two protruding wings.

Together with the Hall of Military Prowess, which houses a large collection of paintings and calligraphy works, and the Hall of Literary Glory which contains precious ceramics, they will serve as a cluster of mini-museums for visitors before entering the heart of the Forbidden City.

Shan also said the Palace Museum will open 28 ticket booths on the square between the Meridian Gate and the Upright Gate (Duanmen), to significantly cut short the waiting time for visitors.

Some of the booths will begin operation during the May Day holiday.

Paying the price to travel

In spite of China's new Tourism Law, which seeks to curb price hikes at scenic spots across the country, many famous sites are still able to get visitors to pay top dollar to gain entry.

The law, adopted by China's top legislature on April 25, outlined strict controls on the cost of tickets to enter scenic spots.

The National Development and Reform Commission published a list of more than 1,200 scenic spots lowering their entry fees during the May Day holiday from April 29 to May 1.

These scenic spots, where prices have fallen by around 20 percent, include 60 5A-level tourist attractions, the highest level, as well as 350 4A-level, and 800 3A-level sites.

However, the new policy, which is intended to attract more tourists, has received a muted response.

Ji Shubin, an accountant from Nanjing, said that she did not find the list to be very attractive.

"The places I am interested in do not offer a lower price," she said. "Five spots in Beijing are on the list, but I have not heard any of them before."

The five spots on the list are all in the suburbs of Beijing, while well-known and must-see sites such as the Tian'anmen Rostrum and the Summer Palace are not included.

"Instead of going to places with discounts that I have no interest in, I would prefer to go to places I really like, regardless of the price," she added.

Some other sites on the list are only offering a discount after the end of the May Day holiday.

For example, Famen Temple, a well-known Buddhist place of worship in Shaanxi province, lowered its ticket price from 120 yuan ($20) to 95 yuan, from May 2 to 4. And the scenic area in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, which is famous for its beautiful forests and mountains, will cut ticket prices by 20 percent as required by the National Development and Reform Commission, but only from May 2 to May 7.

Zhan Dongmei, an expert from the China Tourism Academy, said this is an attempt to prevent overcrowding of the sites during public holidays, by encouraging people to visit at other times.

"But our vacation ends on May 1," Ji said. "I cannot ask for leave after the vacation."

Besides Famen Temple, a number of other well-known sites such as Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain and Tianzhu Mountain use the same discount plan.

Emei Mountain, a well-known hiking spot in Sichuan province, lowered its ticket price from 185 yuan to 165 yuan, but a few months prior to this, it raised its peak season entry fee from 150 yuan to 185 yuan, and from 90 yuan to 110 yuan for the off-peak season.

Ding Yunyong, director of Zhangjiajie's tourism bureau, said it's not a good idea for scenic spots to lower ticket prices on peak days.

"If these places already receive a lot of visitors, then lowering the ticket price will only attract more, which in turn lowers the quality of service they can provide," he said.

"If a scenic spot lowers its ticket price on days when most people in the nation choose to travel, people will swarm to it."

Ding said the cost per person to travel for three days throughout Zhangjiajie's scenic area of 264 square kilometers was around 240 yuan, which he said was reasonable, since this includes traveling from one location to another.

In expert's eyes, lowering ticket prices at tourism sites, especially scenic and historic spots, is a tendency that the Tourism Law proposes.

"These sites mostly use public resources and should gradually lower their prices," Zhan said.

"However it is not practical for all sites, especially hotspots with mostly private investment, to lower ticket prices," she said.

"Reasons can include curbing visitor numbers and ensuring adequate economic benefits."

An expert who refused to be identified said that it's common that local governments rely on charging more for tickets to scenic areas.

"Where there is beautiful natural scenery there is usually a lagging economy. Tourism is almost the only industry that brings them significant financial benefits," the expert said.

"The central government should work out how to compensate these areas if they turn to developing other industries," he said.

Source: By Yang Yao and Wang Qingyun (China Daily)

Liujiang Ancient Town in Sichuan

Located in Hongya County of Sichuan Province, Liujiang Ancient Town was once dominated by a few wealthy families in the old time. Its well-preserved traditional Chinese garden style residences, together with the nearby mountains and the creeks running through the town compose a beautiful landscape picture. (Source: Xinhua)

Taiwan opened to more tourists

Source: By Tan Zongyang in Xiamen, Fujian and Li Wenfang in Guangzhou, Guangdong (China Daily) | Photo: Xinhua

A new travel policy will begin on Saturday to allow residents of six mainland cities - Chongqing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Chengdu - to visit Taiwan individually, not as part of tour groups.

Also on Saturday, 66 individual tourists will leave from Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing to travel to Taiwan, according to Taiwan tourism authorities.

The deal, agreed by tourism authorities from both sides of the Taiwan Straits, is the latest change meant to encourage more mainland tourists to go to the island. In an experiment last year, residents of three mainland cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen, in Fujian province - were allowed to make the same types of trips.

About 74,000 people from the mainland have applied so far to travel individually in Taiwan, and more than 400 people applied each day on average in the first three months of the year to take the trips, according to China News Service.

Yue Xuejiao, a 27-year-old travel lover in Chongqing who has been to South Korea, Australia and many countries in the Southeast Asia, said she is ready to explore another overseas destination - Taiwan.

The place Yue has dreamed about going to is Jiufen, also known as Jioufen, a village in the hills near Keelung, in northeast Taiwan. Two years ago, she had met a couple of Taiwan travelers who had sent her a postcard showing a view of distinct, old houses. It was the setting used in A City of Sadness, a Taiwan movie that won a Golden Lion, the highest award at the Venice Film Festival.

"I was looking forward to going there but never made it because I could only visit the island in tour groups," the Chongqing resident said.

In the past, many of the people who went to Taiwan as part of group tours were middle-aged or elderly. But as the opportunity to travel there individually becomes open to more and more, the young are the ones showing the greatest enthusiasm for the trips, according to travel agencies in Guangzhou.

Most of the tourists who have signed up for the new travel option are between the ages of 20 and 35. Many said they are traveling with friends to learn about trends in music, books and design or to go shopping and bicycling on the island, according to Nanhu International Travel Service, one of the six travel agencies in Guangzhou permitted to arrange individual tours to Taiwan.

Saturday will see the journey start for the first batch of 15 tourists who, under the new policy, have signed up for a tour of the island through the Guangdong branch of China Travel Services.

"This policy will give a boost to less-traveled scenic spots and specialty routes," said Wang Jun, deputy director of the agency.

Qiao Huaxiang, manager of the Taiwan-bound travel business at the Chongqing Yangtze River Traveling Co, said individual tours, as a supplement to group tours, can help to make trips to the island more frequent.

"We recommend that tourists visit Taiwan the first time in groups to gain a general understanding and then take individual tours the next time," he said.

He said Taiwan has now become Chongqing residents' favorite travel destination.

Public security bureaus in the six cities said individual residents have to obtain an entry permit before they go to Taiwan, which allows them to stay for up to 15 days on the island. Current plans also call for the residents of four other mainland cities - Jinan, Xi'an, Fuzhou and Shenzhen - to be permitted to visit Taiwan individually before the end of the year.

China Eastern Air Said Close to Ordering 20 Boeing 777s

Source: Bloomberg News By Thomas Black

Boeing Co. (BA) reached an agreement to sell 20 long-range 777 jets, the planemaker’s most-profitable model, to China Eastern Airlines Corp. in a deal with a list value of about $6 billion.

China Eastern’s board approved the purchase along with the sale of five Airbus SAS A340 four-engine planes, according to a filing today with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Both transactions are subject to ratification by shareholders, said China Eastern, the country’s second-biggest airline.

Chinese airlines have become large customers for Boeing and Airbus as the nation’s economic growth spurs travel demand. The country will probably order 5,000 planes in the 20 years ending 2030, according to a forecast from Chicago-based Boeing.

The 777 deal requires approval from the Chinese government, and the planemaker won’t post it as an order until regulators act, said Miles Kotay, a Boeing spokesman. China Eastern didn’t release terms on the acquisition of the 20 twin-engine planes, and airlines typically buy at a discount to list prices.

A340 Production Ended

China Eastern’s fleet number 377 planes at the end of 2011, split mostly between Boeing and Airbus jets, according to the carrier’s annual report.

The airline is planning to sell the five A340s after Airbus said in November it ended production of the model. The aircraft, which started service in 1993, was the shortest-lived program for the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft as customers preferred Boeing’s twin-engine 777.

Rising fuel prices have reduced the attractiveness of four- engine aircraft, such as the A340 and Boeing’s 747 jumbo jets.

The twin-aisle 777 carries 400 passengers in a typical two- class setup and can seat as many as 440, Boeing said on its website, and has the range to nonstop routes such as London to Los Angeles. Last year’s net orders for the 777 totaled 200, up from 76 in 2010 and the most since at least 2003.

The 777 entered service in 1995, and was the company’s most advanced aircraft until last year’s commercial debut of the 787 Dreamliner. The 777-300ER variant has become the most popular type and is powered solely by General Electric Co.’s GE90 engines.

Boeing’s biggest customers, including Emirates Airline and British Airways Plc, are pushing the planemaker to announce a successor to the 777-300 as they plan for the replacement of older planes by the end of this decade.