Hilton Group, the global hospitality giant, will open next month its 400th hotel in Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu province, showing a strong commitment to its long-term plan to run 1,000 hotels in China's lucrative market by 2025.

"China is Hilton's second largest market with abundant tourism resources, diverse consumer groups and a booming urban economy. Therefore, we look at the national market from a holistic view and never give up on any place where there is a chance to take root and provide services to customers," said Qian Jin, president of Hilton Greater China and Mongolia.

While expanding its presence in China's luxury hotel market, the executive said Hilton will continue to drive Hilton Garden Inn (HGI) development and deepen its cooperation with partners, including the launch of the Home2 brand in cooperation with Funyard Hotel Investment (Asia) Limited, a subsidiary of China's Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd, and the renewal of the Hampton by Hilton brand agreement with Shanghai-headquartered Jin Jiang International in the coming years.

These partnerships will help promote the acceleration of our openings in the coming years, he said, adding that, with guest demand becoming more refined and the market more mature, the group is keen to tap into the immense potential of focused service travelers.

Eager to further enhance its footprint, Hilton launched a large-scale franchise model in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, starting with its Hilton Garden Inn brand in late September.

As economic growth data and research results show that second- and third-tier cities are the main markets for upper mid-scale hotels, driven by accelerated urbanization, Hilton found that the purchasing power of their residents is continuously growing, while management costs are still at a comparatively low level.

Under such circumstances, Qian said that the group will actively seize emerging development opportunities and strive to develop markets in lower-tier cities during the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

Apart from deploying more resources and manpower to support China's dual-circulation growth paradigm, he said the national development strategy of each key area in China has pointed out the direction for Hilton's development in China. The company's businesses can be seen in the regions and provinces related to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as places throughout China's western region.

China's tourism industry has adapted to the current situation of regular epidemic prevention and control, with growing market demand and more innovative business models and growth points, said Zhang Yongjun, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

With the rigorous implementation of regular epidemic prevention, China's tourism market has gradually recovered since the beginning of this year, he noted.

The number of domestic tourists in China reached 1.87 billion during the first half of 2021, rising by 100.8 percent on a yearly basis. The gross revenue of domestic tourism hit 1.63 trillion yuan ($254.93 billion), up 157.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed.