TUI BLUE looks to build strong APAC pipeline

TUI BLUE Hotels & Resorts has revealed plans to develop 70 to 90 hotels in Asia-Pacific, soon after establishing its new development team in Hong Kong.

The hotel subsidiary of TUI Group has an overall ambition to grow to more than 300 hotels worldwide, enabling it to become the leading leisure hotel brand. It currently has 97 hotels in 20 countries, and has its eyes on expansion opportunities across South-east Asia, China, Africa and the Middle East.

TUI BLUE Hotels & Resorts plans to grow to more than 300 hotels worldwide

Speaking to TTG Asia, Artur Gerber, managing director, TUI BLUE Hotels & Resorts, said that to drive the growth roadmap for the region, the Asia development team across Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand – and soon in Vietnam and Indonesia – will reach out to local partners and amplify the advantages of TUI BLUE’s new management and franchise model for collaboration.

Gerber said: “We have a lot of operational expertise, and on the other side we are also a hotel owner with a lot of assets ourselves.”

TUI Blue’s partners are assured of the parent group’s support in terms of sales and hotel occupancy, he added.

Germany headquartered TUI Group posseses the sales power of 27 million customers per year.

To push demand to its global properties, Gerber believes that the brand’s unique selling points are critical. The novel Tui BLUE concept includes BLUE Guides, competent local contacts to assist guests; BLUEf!t, a fitness and relaxation programme; and BLUE App, a state-of-the-art digital service assistant to allow guests to customise their holidays.

As testimony that the new team is on the right track, new project leads have been on the rise, according to Gerber.

The team in Asia has also successfully inked management contracts for the first few TUI BLUE hotels in China near the Hainan region, as well as in the city of Taicang, 45 minutes away from Shanghai.

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