A Luxury market is emerging in northern China’s Tianjin as the historical port city reinvents itself with domestic and international investments. China’s third largest municipality, Tianjin is set to evolve from the largest financial centre in China to one of the largest in the world.
The Yujiapu Financial District in Binhai New Area is the driving force of the city’s dramatic evolution, and the luxury sector is along for the ride.
Since airbus opened its first manufacturing plan outside of Europe in Tianjin in September 2008, other major corporations have followed suit, including Motorola, Samsung Electronics and Shell. And the investment continues to accelerate. The first quarter of 2011 saw an 18.2% increase in foreign investment to the Binhai New Area totalling US$3.16 billion, with Yujipu Financial District being the epicentre of the region’s activity.
With this boom underway, subsequent demand has spurred the rapid development of a seemingly endless luxury market. Currently one can look to the increases in the tourism and hospitality sectors as clear indicators of the emerging luxury industry. InterContinental Hotels Group, St Regis, Kempinski and Conrad Hotels and Resorts are the front runners of the five-star hotel market. “The market will be tremendous in three to five years,” says Dieter Gamper, General Manager at the ultra exclusive Goldin Metropolitan Hotel, whose company also oversees China’s largest polo facility, Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, which will host the leading French team Polo Club de Chantilly this month.
Residential luxury properties are also emerging as mega seaside developments in Binhai New Area and the renaissance of downtown centres accelerate. Downtown Tianjin features an array of colonial-era, European-style and classical Chinese villas, and on Tianjin’s eastern coast, large scale resort communities offer another option for property investors. The local government has invested US$7.7 billion in recreational facilities including various resorts, a cruise shop port, eco-tours, a yachting community and a maritime museum.