Singapore-based Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts has opened its first 'Spa Academy' in China in Lijiang. The training facility for Chinese spa therapists is expected to provide Banyan Tree with a steady supply of spa staff as it expands into China in the coming years - the company is currently opening an Angsana Spa in Hongqiao, Shanghai and will also open a spa resort in Sanya, Hainan province by the end of the year.

Banyan Tree, which plans on significant expansion into China, North America and the Middle East in the next few years, previously used its Banyan Tree Spa Academy in Phuket, Thailand to drive its expansion from one Banyan Tree Spa in 1994 to more than 50 Banyan Tree Spas and Angsana Spas.

277Banyan Tree Lijiang#http://www.banyantree.com/en/lijiang/index.html# is one of the group's most successful resorts. Significant revenue contributions by the resort - where rooms at the foot of Lijiang's Jade Dragon Snow Mountain begin at more than US$500/night - helped Banyan Tree's net profits in the first half of this year jump 55 percent on the first half of 2006 to US$15.7 million.

Image: Banyan Tree Private Collection

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