IHG announce Eastern Europe growth
InterContinental Hotels Group has announced that it is set to open four new hotels across Eastern Europe in coming months, and 46 more within five years. The news follows the emergence of the region as an increasingly popular travel destination.
The first wave of openings will see four new properties arriving this year in Poland, Georgia and Bulgaria, reflecting customer demand for hotel options in key cultural and business districts.
The expansion follows the evolution of a new type of traveller seeking diverse experiences, with the region seeing the fastest growth of visitor numbers in 2015. Figures from the World Economic Forum show that Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have seen the biggest rise in tourism with a more than 10% increase in visitors since 2014.
There is a strong appetite for branded properties across the region and hotels are viewed as a viable asset class, attracting external investment and local support for development.
Robert Shepherd, Chief Development Officer, Europe, IHG, comments: “The success of our strategy in Eastern Europe has been fuelled by growing domestic travel, tourism from visa free countries including China, South Korea, India; as well as sustainable level of demand from our customers in Western Europe who are attracted by new travel experiences and low costs. Our outlook for the region is long-term. We are acting in order to ensure we provide options from across our brand portfolio to meet the demand from a range of consumer needs.”
The growth of IHG’s hotels will be primarily driven by its midscale brands, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, in cities across Eastern Europe. However its fastest growing segment, boutique, will also benefit from continued growth in the region.
