Shangri-La ready for second-tier expansion

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts announced that it intends to open nine new hotels in China by 2008. Most of the new hotels will be located in second-tier cities.

The luxury hotel operator, the management arm of Shangri-La Asia, said it will open eight five-star hotels under the Shangri-La brand, and one four-star Traders hotel. Cities that will be part of Shangri-La's expansion include Zhengzhou (Henan province), Chengdu (Sichuan), Changzhou (Jiangsu) and Haikou (Hainan).

Investment details were not released.