Chinanews, Guangzhou, Dec. 2 - It seems that private businesspeople in Dongguan, Gaungdong Province, like to invest their money in the hotel industry. Over the past decade, about 25 billion yuan of private funds in Dongguan has flowed into hotel business, creating a sort of what people called the "Dongguan phenomenon."

 

According to Director of the Dongguan Tourism Bureau Li Shannu, there are 95 hotels built in Dongguan, with 15 five-star hotels and 25 four-star hotels. Nine of these hotels are built with money from collectively- or foreign-funded enterprises and all the rest of the hotels are invested by private funds.

 

"Dongguan boasts the third largest number of hotels in China, only next to Beijing and Shanghai. It is also a place in the world where groups of hotels are densely located here," said Li.

 

Vice Secretary-general of the China Tourism Hotels Association Jiang Qikang says that China have altogether 280 five-star hotels nationwide. Most provinces in the west region has only one or two five-star hotels each, while Dongguan alone has 15 five-star hotels, accounting for 5% of the total. In Dongguan, private funds account for 95% of the investment in the hotel industry, while on the whole, 70-80% of the 12,000 star-rated hotels in China are invested with state or collectively-owned capital.

 

Li says that in Dongguan, there are 16,000 foreign-funded enterprises and 300,000 private enterprises. These enterprises have created a large commercial tourist market. The hotel industry in Dongguan has become a booming industry in light of market demand, and commercial tourism has emerged as the main feature in the city, with 70% of tourists in Dongguan being businesspeople.