Spain’s Meliá Hotels International will continue on its path of international expansion in 2013, driven by the Asia Pacific market.
Speaking yesterday at the Fitur travel trade show in Madrid, Meliá’s CEO, Gabriel Escarrer, said the international strategy the company started rolling out in 2012 would continue this year.
“We added a hotel every three weeks in 2012, with 80% of the rooms outside Spain,” said Escarrer. “The company expects to keep up this rate of growth in 2013, and has managed to strengthen its position in international markets which already produce more than 80% of our operating profit.”
Meliá has doubled its Asian portfolio in the past two years two years, and recently signed an agreement with Chinese real estate giant, the Greenland Group, to develop more properties in China. This has already led to the planned addition of two new Meliá hotels in China, with the Meliá Jinan and Meliá Tianjin both set to open this year, adding to the existing Gran Meliá Shanghai.
Also opening in 2013 will be new hotels in Indonesia and Vietnam – Meliá Surabaya and Meliá Danang.
By the end of this year, the Spanish hotelier is expected to operate an Asian portfolio of 11 hotels in four countries – China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Meliá also plans to expand in South America, the USA and Middle East, and launch operations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: www.traveldailymedia.com