China
Tourism's biggest boon: Mainland Chinese
June 7, 2013: 8:24 AM ETMainland Chinese make up the fastest-growing group of tourists in the world. Here's how people in the hospitality industry are responding.
By Jennifer Reingold, senior editor
FORTUNE -- In 1995, Sheraton opened its first hotel in Beijing -- called the Great Wall Sheraton. "It was an enclave for Western travelers," says Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. The only Chinese were the employees. Today, Starwood has 120 hotels in China, with another 106 under construction. Chinese tourism is the biggest single factor driving Starwood's growth, not only in China but also in the rest of the world.
That growth means the tourism industry has to think very differently about how it markets to the Chinese tourist, both at home and abroad. In a panel at Fortune's Global Forum in Chengdu, China, van Paasschen, Fan Min, vice chairman and president of Ctrip, a Chinese travel services company, and Vincent Lo, chairman of the Shui On Group, a Hong Kong-based development and construction company, all say the Chinese traveler is the most important thing to happen to the tourism business in decades.
MORE: Complete coverage of the Fortune Global Forum
Already, Starwood (HOT) offers slippers and in-room tea makers, as well as Mandarin speakers in hotels popular with the Chinese. But van Paasschen admits that the tourists are sometimes disappointed that they aren't catered to more than that. That's partly because Chinese tourists who travel within China are used to a higher level of service, both because many of the hotels in China are much newer than they are in the rest of the world and because the low cost of labor means that staffs are larger. That can lead to disappointment; Fan tells the story of a tourist who actually filed a lawsuit, claiming that a four-star rated hotel he stayed in in New Zealand was not worth any more than two.
The speed of the market's explosion has come as a shock, says Lo, particularly in Hong Kong, where 60% of visitors come from the mainland. Many of them are shopping for luxury goods, which are more inexpensive there. "That was totally unexpected," says Lo, "even 10 years ago." Some Hong Kong natives have taken to grumbling that they feel pushed out in their own city, unable to get into restaurants or shows because of the influx of tourists.
Still, that's not a bad problem to have -- and as the economy continues to grow, the rate of Chinese tourism will continue to rise at an even faster pace. Already, more than 50% of Chinese white collar workers have a passport, compared with less than 20% in the United States.
Their wanderlust isn't likely to stop, says van Paasschen. "The average affluent Chinese lives in a city, with an automobile and a closet full of shoes. But the one thing you can't saturate is experiences. They're completely non-depletable. "
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Why we need 202-story skyscrapers
In 10 years, 221 cities in China will hold a million or more residents. We need to be smart about building urban real estate.
By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- Today, for the first time, more people worldwide live in cities than in the countryside. What's often missed in this equation is how fast this trend will accelerate. Take China. Currently 650 million people, or 52% of the population, now MORE
Jun 7, 2013 6:17 AM ET -
China is the new test market for luxury
Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault discusses what it takes to succeed in China.
By Megan Barnett
FORTUNE -- Chinese consumers are young, ambitious, and hopeful about the future. They have no fear of losing their jobs, and they get raises of 10%-15% each year. What better place for a luxury goods manufacturer to test its wares?
Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering (formerly PPR), told an audience at the Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, China on MORE
Jun 7, 2013 4:19 AM ETPosted in: China, Chinese consumers, Francois-Henri Pinault, Kering, Luxury, Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP -
Immelt: GE to 'double down' on clean energy in China
GE CEO Jeff Immelt, Dupont CEO Ellen Kullman, and Sinopec CEO Fu Chengyu, offer ideas for solving one of China's biggest problems: the environment.
By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- The problem is clear. With China's urban population growing and its citizens consuming and driving more, the nation's already poor air quality will get even worse if nothing is done. That was one of the main themes during "Building a MORE
Jun 7, 2013 1:28 AM ETPosted in: China, DuPont, Ellen Kullman, environment, Fu Chengyu, General Electric, Jeff Immelt, Sinopec -
A new way to get to Macau: Seaplane
Peter de Kantzow has big plans for Waterfront Air, the startup airline that will shuttle passengers from mainland China to Macau via seaplanes.
By David Whitford, editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- Asian high-rollers may soon have a stylish new way to make a splash on arrival in Macau: in a seaplane.
Seaplanes were once as much a part of the Victoria Harbor seascape as Chinese junks, but not for the last 50 years. These MORE
May 30, 2013 10:29 AM ET -
Mourning Boston, from half a world away
The Boston bombings touched many people in China deeply, revealing, in many ways, the global ties that tragedies often highlight.
By David Whitford, editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- At 8:02 on Saturday morning, April 20, the earth shook in central China. Yupu Zhao was asleep in his bed in Chengdu, 88 miles from the epicenter in rural Sichuan Province. He still felt it -- he woke up fast -- and once he got MORE
Apr 23, 2013 1:56 PM ET -
What to expect at the Shanghai auto show
The growth of the Chinese auto market, once a playground only for the wealthy, is being fueled more and more by consumers who aren't elite. At the same time, the rich are buying more luxury than ever before.
By Doron Levin
FORTUNE -- Back in the day when Toyota (TM) and the rest of Japan Inc. appeared on the verge of capsizing U.S. automakers and suppliers, industry figures dutifully boarded airliners MORE
Apr 18, 2013 10:41 AM ET -
Why China is doubling down on nuclear power
Andrew Brandler, the CEO of CLP Group, Hong Kong's biggest utility, talks about how Asia plans to balance its soaring energy demands with the planet's need to wean itself from fossil fuels.
By David Whitford, editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- China Light and Power's roots are more than a hundred years deep in Hong Kong. It's still the city's largest utility. But today what's known as the CLP Group operates across Asia -- on the mainland MORE
Apr 8, 2013 10:58 AM ET -
Where is China headed now?
That question dominated the invitation-only China Development Forum.
By David Whitford, editor at large
FORTUNE -- It wasn't Davos, quite, but it was awfully cold last weekend in Beijing, and many of the headliners attending the invitation-only China Development Forum (CDF), held among the gardens and waterways (and behind the glass-shard-topped high walls) of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, have also been invited to the Alps in January. CDF is where Fortune 500 MORE
Mar 25, 2013 10:08 AM ET -
Their first trips to China
In a new essay collection, My First Trip to China, distinguished China watchers evoke the world's most dynamic economy as it used to be.
By David Whitford, editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- My first trip to China was in the spring of 2007. I was covering Michael Dell on one of his periodic expeditions to the far reaches of his global computer empire. I stayed at the Shanghai Four Seasons, where I had MORE
Mar 15, 2013 7:37 AM ET
