Today, every hotel company of scale has established a fully fledged operational structure with multiple properties in China. The key question for Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is: Are we too late?
We don't think so. China is the No 2 recipient of foreign direct investment in the world after the United States. It is also the second largest travel market in the world, with about 777 million domestic holiday makers last year. Disposable income of the Chinese people is increasing annually.
China also shows strong growth in outbound travel with more than 39 million trips per annum. This is estimated to exceed 62 million by 2015, which will be one of the largest outbound travel markets globally. All those facts represent plenty of opportunities. As awareness of and trust in brands continues to develop amongst the Chinese, there remains strong opportunity for the increased presence of niche operators like us.
Operating 71 hotels and resorts in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia - with more than 30 under development - Movenpick Hotels & Resorts was founded 40 years ago as a restaurant and wine company in Zurich, Switzerland.
Research has proven that Swiss products, services and quality are well-perceived by the Chinese consumer - we can therefore leverage our Swiss roots with our deep experience in creating authentic culinary experiences to carve a valuable niche in the Chinese market. Switzerland's solid tradition of high-class hospitality education is at the heart of our service delivery. This is a clear differentiator; hotel investors embrace our heritage, our Swiss values and standards. They see us as a welcoming "refresher" brand and operator with a different approach.
Our current focus in China is to operate hotels in unusual locations with a sense of place, giving the brand high visibility among Chinese consumers. Movenpick's first opening in Sanya, located on a man-made island, will be a landmark opening in 2013. Several recently launched brand initiatives, such as our Chinese logo and name Rui Xiang, our Chinese website and our new Shanghai-based sales and development office complementing our existing presence in Hong Kong, underlie our commitment to the region. We can see the benefit of this market presence already, with strong increases of Chinese travellers in our Swiss hotels, too.
Markus Muller is vice-president sales and marketing, Asia, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts