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Shanghai to build China headquarters of WHA

By Chen Qide (China Daily Shanghai Bureau)
Updated: 2010-05-12 16:00

SHANGHAI - Shanghai has decided Wednesday to build China headquarters of the World Hotel Association (WHA) in Songjiang district.

"The plan has been delivered to the National Tourism Administration for approval and has aroused its high attention," said Wu Junlin, executive president of WHA.

The project which is expected to cost an investment of more than 3 billion yuan ($439 million) will be completed in two phases within five years, said Wu .

"It is of great significance to boost China's economic development and push forward the growth of its tourism," he said.

WHA will spend 600 million yuan ($87.8 million) building a world hotel equipment and supply center as the first phase, said Chen Shaosheng, vice president of WHA.

A letter of intent has been signed with the Guangdong International Hotel Management Holdings Ltd to manage a four-star service apartment building which will be completed in October to serve the center, Chen said.

Its second phase will include projects to build a hotel cultural museum, China headquarters of WHA, an international convention center and a summit club for WHA members.

"All these projects are expected to be completed within five years," Chen said.

To echo the heavily-funded project, WHA will hold a world hotel investment summit at Songjiang New Century Grand Hotel in Shanghai in July, Wu said.

The two-day event, which will coincide with the opening of the first world hotel equipment and supply exposition, will discuss ways of how to finance for the development of tourism and how to improve the management of hotels, he said.

The summit and expo have received support from the World Hotel Organization, the Chinese Government and the tourism authorities of the United States of America, France, Japan, Greece, Australia, Thailand, Korea, Finland, Spain, Singapore as well as China's Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

More than 100 renowned entrepreneurs from home and abroad will attend the event together with famous scholars and experts.

"China's hotels have made remarkable progress though they suffered from the global economic crisis," he said.

Hotels such as Jinjiang in Shanghai, BTG-Jianguo in Beijing and Jinling in Nanjing of Jiangsu province, he said, have expanded their market shares by restructuring their management system and merger of other enterprises.

Statistics from the National Tourism Administration show that China now has more than 16,000 starred hotels including 463 five-star hotels and 2,000 four-star ones.

"By 2015, China will increase 500 five-star hotels to meet the growing needs," Wu said.