Pursuits
Tibet Lures Shangri-La as Urban China Crowded by Luxury Hotels
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Expansion in China, the world’s fastest-growing economy, is causing an urban lodging glut that’s spurring luxury chains including Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.’s St. Regis to head to areas as remote as Tibet.
The 162-room St. Regis Lhasa Resort, which opened this week as the first international luxury hotel in Tibet’s capital, is about 12,000 feet (3,680 meters) above sea level and boasts a five-star spa. Shangri-La Asia Ltd. will open a 350-room hotel in Lhasa in 2012, and InterContinental Hotels Group Plc plans to add a high-end, 2,000-room hotel in the city within three years.