Chinese flock to serviced apartments in the UK

China is becoming an increasingly important overseas market for the United Kingdom's serviced apartment sector, with some of the operators seeing bookings from Chinese guests surging as much as 50 percent during the last 12 months, according to a trade body.

The latest select survey by the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers shows China as one of the top five overseas markets for the UK's serviced apartments sector. Members reported that their Chinese business increased between 5 percent and 50 percent last year.

"The majority of our Chinese guests are leisure travelers currently. It's encouraging to see that operators expect their Chinese business to increase in the region by 10 to 15 percent in the next three years, with some expecting it to become their No 1 overseas market in that time," said James Foice, the association's chief executive.