Club Med to Open First Ski Village Resort in China

Club Méditerranée and Melco China Resorts (Holding) Limited, signed an agreement on Feb. 11 to open the first Club Med ski village at MCR’s Sun Mountain Yabuli resort in November 2010. The signing was attended by senior executives of Club Méditerranée, Melco China Resorts and its new shareholder, Wisecord Holding Limited (WHL).

The resort that will be home to the first Club Med mountain village was extensively redeveloped in 2008 and re-opened in early 2009. It will be aligned with the brand’s standards by November. Club Méditerranée will operate and market the village through a 10-year renewable management contract, while MCR will manage all ski-related activities.

Club Med will cover the cost of aligning the resort for a maximum investment of $3 million. The future 4-Trident Yabuli-Sun Mountain resort will be dedicated to families, couples and business seminars. It will comprise 284 rooms, including 27 120-square-meter suites, 22 52-square-meter deluxe rooms and 235 36-square-meter rooms.

The village is equipped with a spa, a swimming pool and a fitness room. It also has a large number of conference rooms that in particular will host the China Entrepreneur Forum, an annual event held in February that brings together 600 senior executives from leading French companies. The future village will provide supervised activities for children of all ages, from 2 to 18.

In line with Club Med’s goal of becoming the leading provider of upmarket, all-inclusive vacations for Chinese customers, three other village projects at seaside or cultural destinations in China have already been identified or are in the planning stage. Club Med has decided to strengthen its presence in upscale resorts by opening five villages between 2010 and 2014.

The objective for 2015 is to attract 5 percent to 10 percent of China’s potential four- and five-star resort customers, whose numbers are expected to quadruple over the next five years. On this basis, Club Med could have over 200,000 Chinese customers by 2015.