Foreign hotel groups are keen on building or operating five-star hotels in the mainland despite fierce competition and oversupply in cities such as Beijing, according to Christopher Hartley, chief executive of Global Hotel Alliance.
　　
The alliance, consisting of seven hotel partners from 32 countries, currently operates six mainland hotels and plans to increase the number to 15 next year and to 25 within five years.

"Beijing will benefit from the Olympics not only in 2008, but also over the next 10 years. Look at other host cities like Barcelona. The event will open up China to tourists as a travel destination," Hartley said, adding that these tourists will also visit other cities such as Xian.

While Beijing is currently oversupplied, he said, the country is capable of absorbing different brands from the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia as inbound tourism booms and flights to the mainland increase.

Alliance members include the 110-year-old German-founded Kempinski Hotels, Omni Hotels of the United States, Japan's Pan Pacific, Dusit Hotels and Resorts of Thailand, Taiwan's Landis Hotels and Resorts, the Marco Polo Hotels unit of Wharf (0004) and India's Leela Palaces.

Dusit Group, which owns and operates more than 20 hotels, mainly in Thailand, is in talks with newly built, non-brand hotels in the mainland, seeking an opportunity to buy and convert them into Thai-style hotels, said chief executive Chanin Donavanik.