| Shanghai, June 12, 2002 - Hospitality Marketing
Concepts (HMC), the world�s leading provider of travel industry membership
and database management programs, is pleased to announce the opening of
its new CLUBHOTEL China Central Reservations Office (CRO) located in Pudong,
Shanghai.
HMC�s proprietary CLUBHOTEL international network encompasses 700 four and five-star hotels, 700,000 members, and extend over 63 countries. This new CRO in Pudong is dedicated to the servicing of CLUBHOTEL members in China, assisting senior executives and business professionals with hotel and car rental reservations around the world. The China CRO is the 8th in HMC�s global infrastructure, joining the well-established reservation offices in Kuala Lumpur, London, Barcelona, Milan, Dubai, Istanbul and Vancouver.
Recent statistics released by China�s Ministry of Public Security showed that about 12.13 million Chinese citizens went abroad in 2001, a 15.5 percent increase from the previous year. Many foreign authorities, including the South Africa Tourism Office, are reporting significant increases in business travel by Chinese entrepreneurs as China undergoes rapid economic development. The Ministry of Public Security also estimated the number of Chinese tourists traveling within China to reach 750 million this year, generating domestic income of US$39.9 billion. HMC�s opening of its new CLUBHOTEL China Central Reservations Office in Pudong follows the recent April opening of its regional office in Pudong and the May opening of a new 100-seat call center in Hong Kong, clearly showing the company�s commitment to its growth in the Asia region. About Hospitality Marketing Concepts Headquartered in Southern California, Hospitality Marketing Concepts is the world's leading provider of travel industry membership and database management programs with 700,000 members and a network of over 700 premier hotel and resort clients around the world, including Le Meridien, Hilton, Shangri-la, Ritz, Mandarin Oriental, St. Regis, Husa and Orbis. For more information about Hospitality Marketing Concepts or CLUBHOTEL, please visit our website at www.clubhotel.com and http://hmc.clubhotel.com. |
�HMC
partners with premier hotels to bring prestigious and valuable membership
programs to discerning travelers and business executives,� said Mokhtar
Ramadan, CEO of Hospitality Marketing Concepts. �Through the CLUBHOTEL
network, HMC brings millions of roomnights to our hotel partners each year.
China has a rapidly growing outbound as well as domestic market that deserves
our attention, and we are committing our resources to fully service this
emerging market.�