印度泰姬酒店15亿美元海外“攻城略地”

　　Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, one of Indias leadinghospitalitygroups, is embarking on an $1.5bn internationalexpansion programme,with the aim of opening a new hotels aroundthe US, Europe andAsia.

　　The Mumbai-based company – a subsidiary of Tata, theIndiansteelmaker and engineering conglomerate – wants to open abrandedTaj hotel in each of the worlds “gateway cities”.

　　In an interview, Raymond Bickson, chief executive,saidinternational expansion was necessary to offset the risk ofanindustry trading downturn and would help protect Tajsdomesticbusiness. “Although we have a big portfolio in south Asia,intodays market you need to have a diverse portfolio”.

　　“There are many players coming to our part of the world andtheyhave more distribution channels and bigger loyalty schemes.Tobetter protect our base we need to plant our flag in moregatewaycities around the world. Our expansion will make our brand aglobalbrand.”

　　The group has made in-roads in the US, buying the luxuryPierrehotel in New York and, more recently, the Ritz-Carlton inBoston.But it is also eyeing properties in Los Angeles, SanFrancsico,Chicago and Miami.

　　China is also on the list. “We need to have a presence thereandwill be focusing on Shanghai and Beijing,” said Mr Bickson.

　　印度泰姬酒店和度假集团将启动一个15亿美元的国际扩张计划，在美国、欧洲和亚洲开设一批新酒店。

　　该公司希望在全球所有的“门户城市”开设泰姬品牌的酒店。泰姬酒店是印度最大的酒店集团之一，总部位于孟买，是印度钢铁制造商塔塔集团的子公司。

　　泰姬酒店首席执行官雷蒙德·比克森在一次采访中表示，为了防范行业低迷的风险，必须实行国际扩张战略，同时，这也将有助于保护泰姬酒店的国内业务。“尽管我们在南亚拥有庞大的资产组合，但在如今的市场需要多元化的组合。”

　　“有很多竞争者进入了我们的领地，他们具有更多的分销渠道和更强大的忠实客户计划。为了更好地保护我们的根基，我们需要在全球更多的门户城市插上我们的旗帜。我们的扩张计划将令我们的品牌成为一个全球品牌。”

　　泰姬酒店集团已进军美国市场，收购了纽约的豪华酒店皮埃尔酒店，最近还收购了波士顿的丽思·卡尔顿酒店。该集团还在洛杉矶、旧金山、芝加哥和迈阿密物色酒店地产。

　　中国也在泰姬酒店扩张计划的名单之列。比克森表示：“我们需要涉足中国市场，并将重点关注在上海和北京。”

　　作者：董莉