Hoshino eyes Japan hotel chain expansion as visitors rise

Tokyo

HOSHINO Resort Co may expand its new chain of hotels in Japanese cities to as many as 20 after the luxury-resort operator first bought four such properties last month to meet rising demand for urban tourism.

"We've identified about 30 to 40 cities around Japan as possible locations," president Yoshiharu Hoshino said in Tokyo. The 109-year-old company would like to expand into places such as Hakodate in Japan's northernmost Hokkaido prefecture; Sendai, north of Tokyo; and the western city of Kobe, he said on Wednesday.