Club Med to open ski village in China

Upmarket French leisure group Club Med said Thursday it will open a Club Med ski village in China, its first venture into the huge and booming Chinese leisure market, in November.

Club Med said it reached agreement with Melco China Resorts to run the ski village at the Mountain Yabuli resort, developed by MCR since 2008 in Heilongjiang Province, northeastern China, under a 10-year management contract.

MCR will run the ski-related activities, a statement said.

Club Med's investment comes to three million dollars (2.2 million euros) in what it said was China's largest ski resort.

The company said three other village projects, at seaside or cultural sites, have been identified or are in the planning stage but did not name them.

With China's economy booming and its people having more leisure time and money to spend, Club Med said it targetted five to 10 percent of the higher-end resort market by 2015, serving potentially more than 200,000 customers.