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Switzerland-based Golden Tulip Hospitality Group announced that its Bangkok-based subsidiary, Golden Tulip South East Asia, will open 40 hotels in four years in 10 Asian countries. In Thailand and Cambodia, five priority projects have been confirmed: one in each of the popular Thai resorts of Samui and Phuket, two in Bangkok, and one in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
The company is also reviewing and negotiating the opening of properties in Singapore, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Hanoi, Vung Tau, Bin Dong), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching), Indonesia (Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Yogjakarta, Medan and Den Pasar), and more in Cambodia along its south coast.
In Thailand, fifteen additional properties including a 350-room hotel and conference centre at Bangkok’s international airport are also under negotiation.
Golden Tulip President and CEO, Mr Hans WR Kennedie, said that a similar expansion is taking place in China and India to complement Golden Tulip’s existing global portfolio of 900 hotels in more than 50 countries. “Our strategy is to develop economy business hotels in capital cities in Southeast Asia and our four- and five-star brands, Royal Tulip and Golden Tulip Resorts, in resort areas. We are proud to be a multi-brand hospitality company.”
Golden Tulip Southeast Asia, Managing Director, Mr van Ogtrop, said the business economy hotel in urban centres offered particularly strong potential for growth. He added: “Our expansion in Southeast Asia will be achieved through the management and leasing of individual hotels, alliances, joint ventures, and the merging and acquisition of existing hotel groups. We’re setting up a hotel property investment fund to finance future projects.”
Mr Kennedie said Golden Tulip and its partners would invest US$800 million (about €508 million) on the initial four-year development period in South East Asia.
