REGIONAL> Highlights
A State-level hot spring resort to be built in Nanjing
By Chen Qide (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-09-09 11:26

A senior manager from China United Travel Co Ltd said today here that it will join hands with Nanjing Tangshan to set up a State-level hot spring resort.

Its first phase, which was funded with an investment of 250 million yuan, has been completed to provide an Easpring Hot Spring Hotel and an open-air hot spring park, said Yan Chengguang, secretary to the Board of Directors of China United Travel Co Ltd.

"This is part of our strategy to restructure the company's assets, with the focus of investment placed on hot spring management and property development," Yan said.

Xiao Yu, deputy general manager of Nanjing Tangshan Easpring Hot Spring Development Co Ltd, said Nanjing municipal government has approved the company's hot spring resort development project which will be centered on the new city center of 51 square kilometers.

More than 30 hot spring pools will be built at Tangshan resort by the end of this year. The figure is expected to rise to 50 next year, Xiao said.

In the next three to five years, the resort will set up a number of new hot spring facilities including Hot Spring SPA, theme hotels and an international medical center.

As all these facilities are completed, the resort is expected to receive more than 800,000 visitors annually, Xiao said.

"We believe the project in Nanjing will be successful to become one of China's top four hot spring resorts," Yan said.

He said more funds will be injected into the Tangshan resort to push it forward.

Meanwhile, China United Travel will seek co-operation opportunities in the country's some developed regions to launch 4 more Easpring hot spring resort projects and build two downtown CBD clubs in some big cities, Yan said.

But he didn't give details on the location where these projects will be mounted and the total investment for them.