InterContinental Hotels Group sees opportunity and announces plans for a major expansion in South Korea.

The company currently operates nine hotels in the country across three of its brands — InterContinental, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express — with new developments in the pipeline.

The company plans to take advantage of the country’s strong domestic, MICE and inbound travel, in addition to the opportunities that come with South Korea’s hosting of next year’s Winter Olympics.

“On a regional level, we have our eyes firmly set on Korea,” said Leanne Harwood, vice president of operations for Southeast Asia and Korea, IHG. “With a robust domestic market and a steady flow of foreign leisure and business visitors, our brands cater to guests from winter sports fans in the mountain resort town of Alpensia Pyeongchang, to corporate travellers in some of the major cities.”

Korea’s MICE sector is lucrative, and IHG plans to capitalize. Recent data from the Union of International Associations, which publishes annual world conference statistics, identified Korea as the top-ranking market for international meetings in 2016. Of the 997 international meetings in South Korea last year, more than half were hosted in Seoul.

“Korea has been stepping up its campaign to attract travellers and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions and we are well placed to serve this market,” said Harwood.

The Winter Olympics is expected to bring in more than 20 million international visitors next year, another strong opportunity for the hotel company.