A quantitative analysis of factors contributing to improvements of five-star hotels in China in the area of service quality

CONTENT

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background Information
For the past three decades China’s tourism industry has been booming at an exponential rate for a period (1980s-mid 1990s) and at a steady rate since 2000 (Lew, 2003).In 2009, over 124 million people visited China both on vacation and business visas, earning the country a sum of $39 billion (Breakingtravelnews.com, 2009). According to China Daily (2009), the hospitality industry is the where the visitors spend most of their money while travelling in China, earning the industry an accumulated total of $21 billion in 2009. As a result of the increase in demand for travelling accommodations, the hospitality industry in China has experienced an exponential rate of growth especially in the coastal areas and the major tourist attractions. According to Times Online (2010), the rapid rate of growth in the tourism sector in China has made the country an appealing pool of investment from the world’s largest hotel groups such as the IHG (also known as the Crown Plaza Group) and the French ACOR Group. According to the same report, the rush of investment specially from the Western countries and firms is set to make the Chinese hospitality industry the largest and most profitable in the world with the number of the start rated hotels set to increase to 10,000 by 2015 and the five start hotels increase to 500, currently 360 open and operating (Times Online, 2010).

The rapid development of the tourism industry in China not only has drive the entry of foreign hotel groups into China but also has greatly driven the development of local hotel industry in China. The rapid development of the hotel industry in China to a large extent is realized in the rapid increase in the number of hotels in China. With the increase in business activities and travelling activities in China, the sector of budget hotel has experienced rapid growth in China because budget hotels not only can provide clean and convenient

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