The growing Chinese upper class is just beginning to become a major force in luxury markets worldwide, an executive at the Peninsula Hotel chain said in Tokyo.
"What we're seeing right now is only the tip of the iceberg. It's quite phenomenal," Peter Borer, chief operating officer of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd., said in an interview last week.
The Hong Kong firm operates the Peninsula Hotels, which have high-end resorts located from Tokyo to Beverly Hills. The company announced last month that net profit for the first half of the year rose 31 percent as conditions improved from 2009. Borer said he is "cautiously optimistic" that performance will continue to improve next year.