INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP (IHG) has signed a deal to open a 1,224-room Holiday Inn hotel on Macau's Cotai Strip.
The new hotel, located in a popular gambling spot, will be the world's largest under the Holiday Inn brand, according to IHG. Due to open in 2012, Holiday Inn Macau Cotai Strip will be part of a resort offering extensive meeting facilities, as well as gaming, dining, retail and entertainment space.
Macau's openings over the last five years have mostly been in the upper-upscale segment, prompting demand for more mid-scale hotels such as the Holiday Inn, according to Keith Barr, CEO for IHG Greater China.
"Macau, as Asia's emerging entertainment destination, is a hotel market with great potential," said Barr.
"The number of hotel guests in Macau has tripled over the past five years," he said, adding that the hospitality industry "continues to flourish alongside the gaming and tourism sectors".
IHG currently has hotels more than 150 hotels under its five brands in more than 50 Chinese cities, including Holiday Inn, which opened in 1993.