Dozens of five-star hotels will be built in South China's Guangdong Province in the coming years.

With the current 56 five-star hotels, Guangdong now ranks the first among all provinces and municipalities on the mainland.

However, the increasing demand for luxurious hotels in the province especially in the affluent area, led the authorities to build more such hotels.

Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration said the province will have 40 to 50 new five-star hotels in the next two to three years.

In addition, 155 hotels which have not finished construction will apply for the quality of four-star or five-star hotels.

Ritz Carlton, a global luxurious hotel brand, will open its first hotel in Guangzhou at the end of this year. Another Ritz Carlton hotel is under construction in Shenzhen.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc officially announced a Westin Hotel started its operation in Guangzhou last week.

According to the company's near future plan, four Sheraton hotels will be built in Guangzhou in the next three years.

A Shangri-la hotel was opened in the first half of this year in Guangzhou, which is the 50th Shangri-la hotel.

The Shangri-la Hotels and Resorts Group is planning to build 40 more hotels. Two hotels in Shenzhen and Dongguan will complete construction and open in the next two years. The Hong Kong-based group will expand its business in Canada, France and Japan in the future.

A Guangzhou local five-star hotel, Garden Hotel, was rated as a platinum five-star hotel by the National Tourism Administration in August. The platinum five-star award is the highest hotel award on the mainland.

Only three hotels have obtained the award. The other two are China World Hotel Beijing and the Portman Ritz Carlton Shanghai.

According to Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration, eight more hotels in the province have been appraised as five-start hotels not long ago.

They include Zobon Business Hotel in Zhuhai, Great International Hotel in Heyuan, Kande International Hotel in Huizhou, Goodview Hotel Tangxia in Dongguan, Shangri-la Hotel in Zhongshan, Huaxia New Zhongyuan Hotel in Foshan, and Holiday Island Hotel in Qingyuan.

Up to now, there are more than 1,200 star-rated hotels in Guangdong, 218 of which are either four-star or five-star hotels.  (By Liang Qiwen)