ASIAN HOTEL & CATERING TIMES ASIAN HOTEL & CATERING PUBLISHED SINCE 1976 Volume 43 • Issue 03 • March 2018 DESIGN Urban resorts TEA TIME Growing market MARKET REPORT Booming Dubai TECHNOLOGY Cloud-based solutions Volume 43 Volume • Issue Hong Kong SAR HK$50 03 China RMB50 • March 2018 March Singapore S$15 BREAKING BREAD Malaysia RM30 Thailand Bt300 Rest of Asia US$10 Asia wants more EDITOR’S NOTE MANAGING EDITOR he Year of the Dog celebrations underlined once again the Neetinder Dhillon
[email protected] far reaching impact of Chinese travellers who celebrated the New Year in diverse locations across the globe in Art DIRECtor staggering numbers: from Thailand to Australia, from Hatsada Tirawutsakul Cuba to London, with London even hosting one of the COORDINAtor biggest Lunar Year celebrations ever. Everybody cashed in on China’s Wajiraprakan Punyajai nationalT holiday. Dubai too rolled out the red carpet for the estimated CONTRIBUtorS 120,000 Chinese tourists; Dubai and UAE are on the list of the top 20 Donald Gasper, Zara Horner, most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. This influx is thanks to Rebecca Lo, Jane Ram, Michael Taylor, Mischa Moselle, the recent introduction of visa-on-arrival for Chinese travellers combined Victoria Burrows, Vicki Williams with high-quality hotels and high-end shopping. UAE as a whole expects ADVertISING SALES MANAGER to welcome 500,000 Chinese nationals each year by 2021, this according Virat Schlumberger to Colliers International. The same report predicts that Gulf countries will
[email protected] welcome 2.5 million additional Chinese visitors by 2021. This influx of PRODUCTION MANAGER tourists to the region (not just from China) has lead to an expansion in Kanda Thanakornwongskul the hotel market with over six thousand branded hotel keys added to the CIRCULATION room inventory in UAE alone.