InterContinental Hotels Group Finds New “Oasis” in Southwest China

Taps Hottest Emerging Market for Leisure and Business Travel with 6 Hotel Brands

Shanghai – InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is dynamically expanding into China’s southwestern Yunnan province, a rapidly developing MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) destination well known for its natural beauty and abundant cultural resources. With 4 hotels open and 8 in the development pipeline, including InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express and HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, a brand tailor designed for Chinese consumers, IHG is ideally positioned to lead the hospitality market in Yunnan and meet the growing and various demands of China’s leisure and business travellers.

Today, IHG is tapping into key emerging MICE and Resort markets in Yunnan with new signings and developments in Kunming, Shangri-La and Lijiang.

The Crowne Plaza Kunming Chenggong is set to open in 2016 in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan and an attractive getaway for corporate retreats and conferences. Located in Kunming’s fast developing central business district, the Crowne Plaza Kunming Chenggong will provide leading meeting facilities to Yunnan’s expanding market for business travel.

Extending the Group’s presence further into Yunnan’s mountainous north, IHG also recently added the InterContinental Diqing Resort to its development pipeline. Diqing, famously known as Shangri-La is one of China’s more remote and exotic destinations on the cusp of the Tibetan Plateau. The InterContinental Diqing Resort will have a spectacular view of the Dafo Lamasery, Dagui Mountain and the ancient Tibetan town, and will propel Diqing’s development as a first class resort destination. In Lijiang, given the outstanding performance that the Crowne Plaza Lijiang Ancient Town has delivered since its opening in September 2009, the hotel is being upgraded to an InterContinental hotel to cater to the more mature upscale market.   

Kenneth Macpherson, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Greater China said, “As IHG’s second largest region worldwide, we continue to see great opportunities for development in China, particularly in Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities, resort destinations and cities that have potential for meetings and conventions. The signings of InterContinental Resort Lijiang Ancient Town, InterContinental Diqing Resort and Crowne Plaza Kunming Chenggong and the openings of a range of IHG hotels in Yunnan, including InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Resorts and Hotel Indigo, is a testament of the strength of IHG’s brands and reflects the company’s commitment to pioneer new and emerging markets in China.”

IHG has also recently opened three outstanding hotels in unique locations in Yunnan, which are also industry firsts. The Crowne Plaza Resort Xishuangbanna, opened in April 2013, is the first international hotel in Xishuangbanna and the first Crowne Plaza resort in China; the newly opened Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town is the first upscale boutique hotel in Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of China’s most ancient towns; the InterContinental Kunming overlooks the picturesque Dianchi Lake, and is the first urban resort in Southwest China, providing leisure and business travellers a welcome escape from city bustle.

Boasting gorgeous natural scenery and diverse cultural heritage, Yunnan benefits from favourable governmental policies to develop the tourism industry as one of the primary pillars of the province’s economy. A traditional destination for cultural and ecotourism, Yunnan also has great potential as a destination for business travel due to its prime location on China’s southwest border near multiple ASEAN countries. Given the strong growth trends of China’s leisure and business travel sectors this year, IHG sees substantial opportunities in Yunnan, an emerging market with mature tourism infrastructure, and is confident in the development of Yunnan’s Resort and MICE market.

Expanding its portfolio of hotels meeting the diverse needs of various travellers in Yunnan, IHG has also added the Holiday Inn Kunming City Centre and Crowne Plaza Kunming City Centre to its development pipeline.  With 4 hotels currently open including Crowne Plaza Lijiang Ancient Town, Crowne Plaza Resort Xishuangbanna, Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town and InterContinental Kunming, and 8 hotels in the development pipeline including Crowne Plaza Kunming West, Crowne Plaza Tengchong Downtown, Holiday Inn Kunming City Centre, Holiday Inn Express Kunming Bailong, HUALUXE Kunming City Centre, Crowne Plaza Kunming Chenggong and InterContinental Diqing Resort, IHG is poised to be one of the largest hotel groups in Yunnan, with a total of 3,543 rooms throughout the province.

IHG has a strong presence across Greater China, with 200 hotels and over 62,000 rooms open. With significant strides into Yunnan’s burgeoning market for leisure and business travel, IHG continues to expand strongly in China, a key strategic market for the Group’s future development.

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Media contacts:
Sharona Tao
IHG
Tel: +86 21 2893 3309
Fax: +86 21 2893 3399
[email protected] 

 

Notes to Editors:

About IHG

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of nine hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE™ Hotels & Resorts.

IHG manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 76 million members worldwide. The programme was relaunched in July 2013, offering enhanced benefits for members including free internet for Elites across all hotels, globally.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,600 hotels and 679,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media, www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

 

About Lijiang Yulong Tourism Co., Ltd.

Lijiang Yulong Tourism Co., Ltd is the owning company of InterContinental Resort Lijiang Ancient Town and InterContinental Resort Diqing.

The company was established and registered on 18 October, 2001 with registered capital of 116.323 million RMB. At the end of 2010, the company assets were valued at 1.15 billion RMB.

In 2004, the company successfully floated on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Centre to become a public listed company (Stock No. 002033). It is the only publicly listed company in Lijiang city, and its business units expand to cover cable car construction and service, tourism and hospitality, real estate and transportation.

 

About Kunming Northstar Group Co., Ltd.

Kunming Northstar Group Co., Ltd. is the owning company of Crowne Plaza Kunming Chenggong.

Kunming Northstar Group Co., Ltd. is a modern private corporation established in 1992. After 20 years of rapid growth, the corporation became one of Yunnan’s major private corporations with operations in food and beverage, entertainment, retail, tourism, hospitality and real estate. Now, Kunming Northstar Group Co., Ltd maintains an extremely healthy financial position, abundance of talent and is equipped with the most modern of management systems. The corporation is continually exploring new ways to standardize its large-scale operations and aims to remain competitive at all times. The assets of the group are valued at more than 20 billion RMB and the company owns the famous brands Colorful Yunnan and South Asia.