THE golden age of tourism and business travel has drawn the world's innkeepers into a building spree. Led by aggressive U.S. chains, hotel expansion is honing competition in dozens of countries, and the travel boom is transforming entire economies. The construction splurge is aimed not only at American travelers, who are booking foreign tours in rising numbers despite the domestic economic slowdown, but also at travel-hungry Asians and Europeans.
Economical jet travel has helped lift the demand for accommodations so rapidly that hotelmen in many countries are swamped with business. Without much exaggeration, French National Tourist officials insist that not a single hotel room will be available in Paris until after October's auto show. London hotels are so packed that companies in need of space for executives cozy up to room clerks by treating them to elaborate lunches. Greek hotelmen are braced for a 30% increase in tourism this summer. The lure of Expo 70 has not only jammed Japanese hostelries, but contributed to a squeeze in Singapore, 3,000 miles away.
Motels for Europe. The building rush to meet this demand is most apparent in Europe. Five new hotels will open in London this year; another 30 are due to transform the city's skyline by 1975. Amsterdam is adding 50% to its hotel capacity. In France, where 60% of the hotel space was built before 1914, hotelmen foresee a spurt of construction in Paris and along the Cote d'Azur. The Soviet Union opened a new hotel for foreign tourists this spring at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, will open a second in Leningrad this summer, and is putting up three more in Moscow. In Hong Kong, about 3,500 hotel rooms are under construction.
Every major U.S. hotel chain is expanding fast overseas. In more foreign places than ever before, travelers this year will be cooled by U.S.-style air conditioning, mellowed by martinis and sustained by steaks at hotels with such reassuringly familiar names as Hilton, Sheraton, Inter-Continental and Holiday Inn. "We reckon the opportunities abroad, particularly in Europe and Latin America, are as great for us as they were in America when we started in the '50s," says Kemmons Wilson, chairman of the 1,200-unit chain of Holiday Inns. Having opened its first European inn two years ago at Leiden, The Netherlands, the company is building 15 more in Belgium, England, Austria, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece and Luxembourg; it is also drawing plans for an additional 47. Esso Motor Hotels, a subsidiary of Jersey Standard, already has 41 outlets in Europe and expects to have 70 soon.
Finding Money. The airlines are 'particularly active hotel builders. Inter-Continental, which is owned by Pan American World Airways, is building in Prague and Bucharest, and this month the 360-room Duna Inter-Continental opened in Budapest. Hilton International, which is owned by Trans World Airlines, this year will add four more hotels from Abu Dhabi to Zurich to its chain of 51 in 33 countries. United Air Lines plans to acquire Seattle-based Western International Hotels to form another formidable travel and lodging combine. An American Airlines subsidiary has just opened the 21-story Chosun in Seoul.