Asian hotel group Shangri-La has announced plans to expand into Europe. Austin Frost, the group's vice-president of sales, said that the group was keen to acquire hotels in London, Paris and other key European cities which provided tourist traffic to Asia. The group is also planning to expand further into North America, he said.
Frost added that Shangri-La did not want to become a global player in the hotel industry, with clusters of hotels in different countries and cities, but was instead aiming to become an international company with hotels in key cities around the world. The company plans to open 29 hotels over the next five years, taking its portfolio to 71 properties.