Marriott sees revenue boost with global recovery

[JOHANNESBURG] Marriott International Inc, the world's second-largest publicly traded hotel chain, said expansion into new African markets and a global economic recovery may boost revenue by as much as 10 per cent this year.

"We would see the existing hotels grow their top line by something between 4 and 6 per cent and should add another 4 to 5 per cent new hotels," chief executive officer Arne Sorenson said by phone from Cape Town on Tuesday. "If you combine those two, you get revenue growth for us that's in the 10 per cent range."

The owner of brands including Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance is benefiting from an increase in both business and leisure travel worldwide as the global economy improves. The number of individual cross-border journeys could increase to 2 billion by the end of the decade from 1.1 billion in 2013, according to Mr Sorenson. Marriott's revenue increased 8 per cent to US$12.8 billion in 2013. "It's both the burgeoning middle class around the world and it's growing economies," Mr Sorenson said. "So if you look at the United States for example, we continue to see GDP growth in the 2 to 3 per cent range broadly. Europe is stronger than it has been in a number of years, hardly robust but still at this point firmly positive."