1995年，喜来登（Sheraton）开设了在北京的第一家分店——北京喜来登长城饭店（Great Wall Sheraton）。喜达屋酒店与度假村国际集团（Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide）CEO陈盛福称：“过去，那里是西方游客的聚集地。”只有员工是中国人。如今，喜达屋在中国共有120家酒店，另有106家正在建设当中。中国旅游业是推动喜达屋增长的最大因素，这种影响不仅发生在中国，也辐射到世界其他地区。

    这种增长意味着中国国内外的旅游行业都需重新思考，到底应该如何向中国游客开展营销攻势。在中国成都举办的“财富全球论坛”（Fortune's Global Forum）上，由陈盛福、携程网（Ctrip）副董事长兼总裁范敏、香港房地产公司瑞安集团（Shui On Group）董事长罗康瑞等组成的座谈小组均表示，未来几十年，中国游客将是影响旅游行业最为重要的因素。

    目前，喜达屋已经开始广受中国人的欢迎， 酒店提供拖鞋和房间内茶壶，以及普通话服务。不过陈盛福也承认，游客们对于酒店仅能提供这样的服务通常会感到失望。原因是，中国游客在国内旅行时已经习惯了更高档次的服务。此外，相比在世界其他地区的酒店，中国国内的许多酒店相对较新，而且中国的劳动力成本更低，意味着酒店可以雇佣更多服务人员。这可能是导致游客失望的原因；陈盛福还讲到了一件事，一名游客认为他在新西兰居住的四星级酒店顶多只有二星水平，于是为此起诉酒店。

    罗康瑞表示，市场增长的速度惊人，尤其是在香港。香港60%的游客来自大陆。许多游客到香港去采购奢侈品，因为那里的价格更便宜。罗康瑞说：“这个现象非常出人意料，短短10年前还没有人能预见到会这种情况。” 许多香港当地居民抱怨称，他们感觉在自己的城市受到排挤，因为由于游客大批涌入，他们根本进不去餐厅，也看不了演出。

    但这并不是坏事——随着经济持续增长，中国旅游业的增长甚至有望进一步提速。目前，约有超过50%的中国白领拥有护照，而在美国拥有护照的白领比例还不到20%。

    陈盛福表示，中国的旅游热仍将持续。“中国的富人大都居住在城市里，有一辆汽车和满满一柜的鞋子。但有一样东西是永远不会饱和的，那就是经历。他们的消费能力永不枯竭。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    In 1995, Sheraton opened its first hotel in Beijing -- called the Great Wall Sheraton. "It was an enclave for Western travelers," says Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. The only Chinese were the employees. Today, Starwood has 120 hotels in China, with another 106 under construction. Chinese tourism is the biggest single factor driving Starwood's growth, not only in China but also in the rest of the world.

    That growth means the tourism industry has to think very differently about how it markets to the Chinese tourist, both at home and abroad. In a panel at Fortune's Global Forum in Chengdu, China, van Paasschen, Fan Min, vice chairman and president of Ctrip, a Chinese travel services company, and Vincent Lo, chairman of the Shui On Group, a Hong Kong-based development and construction company, all say the Chinese traveler is the most important thing to happen to the tourism business in decades.

    Already, Starwood offers slippers and in-room tea makers, as well as Mandarin speakers in hotels popular with the Chinese. But van Paasschen admits that the tourists are sometimes disappointed that they aren't catered to more than that. That's partly because Chinese tourists who travel within China are used to a higher level of service, both because many of the hotels in China are much newer than they are in the rest of the world and because the low cost of labor means that staffs are larger. That can lead to disappointment; Fan tells the story of a tourist who actually filed a lawsuit, claiming that a four-star rated hotel he stayed in New Zealand was not worth any more than two.

    The speed of the market's explosion has come as a shock, says Lo, particularly in Hong Kong, where 60% of visitors come from the mainland. Many of them are shopping for luxury goods, which are more inexpensive there. "That was totally unexpected," says Lo, "even 10 years ago." Some Hong Kong natives have taken to grumbling that they feel pushed out in their own city, unable to get into restaurants or shows because of the influx of tourists.

    Still, that's not a bad problem to have -- and as the economy continues to grow, the rate of Chinese tourism will continue to rise at an even faster pace. Already, more than 50% of Chinese white collar workers have a passport, compared with less than 20% in the United States.

    Their wanderlust isn't likely to stop, says van Paasschen. "The average affluent Chinese lives in a city, with an automobile and a closet full of shoes. But the one thing you can't saturate is experiences. They're completely non-depletable. "