Hotel, industry and travel news from around the Greater China region; this week: Hainan expands duty-free, Beijing grows rate, Blackstone shifts focus on China and more....

CONSTRUCTION LAND INCREASED IN CHINA 
 
Between January and September 2012, land for construction across China has grown to 440,600 hectares, up 9.2 percent year-on-year. However, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources, the land available for real estate was about 12.5 percent less than in the same period of 2011. Although tight policies have been implemented to control housing prices, the decrease in land supply for the property industry may make the policies less effective. In September, housing prices in 31 of the 70 monitored cities increased compared with August according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Furthermore, the data shows that the investment in the property industry grew in the first three quarters and reached a total of more than 5 trillion Yuan (US$800 billion), up 16 percent year-on-year. 

HAINAN EXPANDS DUTY-FREE PROGRAM

South China's Hainan province launched an expanded version of its duty-free purchase program in order to encourage more Chinese to buy imported luxury items domestically. The new policy raises the duty-free purchase limit to 8,000 Yuan (US$1,259) from 5,000 Yuan, allowing customers to spend up to 8,000 Yuan per visit for two visits each year. It also adds beauty and healthcare products, tableware, kitchenware and toys to the list of duty-free product categories and lowers the minimum purchasing age from 18 to 16. 

YANTAI HOSTS LEISURE CITIES EVENT AND FORUM
 
According to China Daily, Yantai, Shandong Province, held the 2012 China Leisure Cities Comprehensive Assessment event and the 2012 China Holiday Cities Forum on October 31st. The results of the 2012 Cities Leisure Index, 2012 Special Leisure Cities and 2012 Leisure Towns assessments are announced. At the forum, Qingdao, Hangzhou and Chengdu are considered as the best leisure cities at the forum. 
 
HOTEL GROWS DESPITE WEAK GLOBAL ECONOMY
 
The average daily room rate in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao continued to grow despite the weak global economy. Around 425 million people visited tourist sites around the country during the Golden Week holiday starting on Sept 30, up 40.9 percent over the same period last year. Robust economic development and growing numbers of tourists in China make it an attractive hotel market in need of more hotel rooms. International hotel operators have shown strong confidence in China's market and are pursuing aggressive expansion plans. 

BLACKSTONE CHIEF SIGNALS RIGHT TIME TO INVEST IN CHINA
 
According to Wall Street Journal, Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman and Chief Executive of Blackstone Group LPP, states now is the time to invest in China as the Chinese economy shows signs of moderating. Recently closed a US$13.3 billion global property fund, Blackstone sees future opportunities to invest in China as Chinese property developers struggle. To illustrate Blackstone’s increasing interest in Chinese property, Blackstone recently purchased Huamin Imperial Tower in Shanghai.

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