THE emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are expected to dominate global tourism over the next two decades with a newly emerging middle class bringing forth an estimated 70 million potential travellers per year in these countries alone by 2030.
In fact, Anna Stupnytska, macro-economist at Goldman Sachs, told a gathered audience of world tourism leaders at the 10th World Travel and Tourism Global Summit in Beijing, China, that the world’s middle class is expected to grow by 2 billion over the same period, representing a massive boost to the travel and tourism economy with more and more people having disposable income to spend on leisure travel.
She said: “The BRIC countries will dominate the next 10-20 years of global tourism, growing twice as fast as the average economy. While global tourism will grow an average of five per cent a year over the next two years, the BRICs – and, in particular, India and China – will grow at more than twice this level and this in itself is four times what established economies such as the US and the Eurozone will grow at.”
And the top four emerging markets, which represent 40 per cent of the global population, are already the focus of travel professionals looking for new clientele with money to spend, a fact borne out by Arthur de Haast, global CEO, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, who said: “China hotels today have a capacity of 1.59 million rooms compared to just 110,000 in India and 4.63 million in the US. The market still has tremendous potential for growth. I believe that, at some point in the future, China’s hotel capacity will reach 15 to 20 million rooms.”
Arne Sorenson of Marriott International added that the group already operates 45 hotels in China and will soon have around 70, InterContinental Hotels Group announced plans to build 200 hotels in China over the next few years and will employ an extra 60,000 new staff in the country over the next three years an other international operators are also moving into or expanding within the Chinese market.