The Taj Group of Hotels is planning to enter the Chinese market. Beijing and Shanghai are among the 13 international cities that have been identified by the group for its expansion in the next two years.

"It is a big growth area with the country attracting 160 million tourists every year. Besides, the Chinese government is strongly wooing international hotel chains to construct properties in the area as the Olympic Games are scheduled to be organised there," Raymond N Bickson, the newly appointed managing director of Indian Hotels Company Ltd told newspersons in New Delhi.

He added the other strategic markets include Europe, North America, middle east markets including Doha and Qatar and the other Asian markets along the rim of the Indian Ocean including Thailand, Mauritius, Bali and Indonesia.

Bickson added that in order to expand aggressively, the company would prefer management contracts rather than directly investing in the properties. He, however, added that if the location was good and it becomes necessary to put in investment, the Taj group would consider picking up to 20 per cent in the property.

Meanwhile, instead of joining hands with any international spa brand, IHCL has tied-up with a London-based spa company -- Raison d'etre -- and has formed a separate division in the company. Raison d'etre has developed the Sixth Sense spa and also manages all the spas in the Aman Group luxury chain of hotels.

The division will launch an exclusive spa offering for its hotels, which is going to be on a large scale spread over 15,000-20,000 square feet. The first four Taj group hotels to get the new spas would be Wellington Mews, Ram Bagh Palace, Lake Palace at Udaipur and the Taj Lands End in Mumbai. "We will launch 12 spas of large sizes in the next three years," Bickson added.

Bickson added that the company wanted to become asset-light wherein some properties would be sold-off and the company would, in turn, seek management contracts.

He added that the company has taken a decision to enter into also identified luxury residences, sustainable tourism areas of growth including wildlife areas as well as value hotels to drive growth in future.