E-Land Group will strengthen its hotel and leisure business to become one of the world’s top 10 hotel and resort conglomerates by 2020, according to the group’s vice chairwoman Park Sung-kyung.

The plans are also expected to help bolster the Korean Wave, she added.

“E-Land Park, an affiliate managing the hotel and leisure business, will strive to operate more than 150 hotels and resorts with 18,000 rooms around the world by 2020,” Park said at a recent press conference on Jejudo Island to mark the opening of Kensington Jeju Hotel. 

E-Land Park generated 80 billion won ($76 million) in sales in 2013 but this is expected to rise to 224 billion won by the end of the year, and to 5 trillion in six years, she said.

E-Land Park currently runs five hotels and 13 resorts in Korea, as well as four others overseas.

On Jejudo Island, the company opened the latest of its signature Kensington brand hotels on April 12. The facility has 221 rooms and a 450-seat performance hall designated for K-pop and other hallyu events.

E-Land is also planning to create a “K-pop town,” World Theme Street, an international business center, a traditional-style village and others to create a hallyu mecca on Jejudo Island.

Park, who is the sister of E-Land Group chairman Park Sung-su, said the group would also advance into the cosmetics and duty-free markets to take advantage of the group’s solid retail network in China and Southeast Asia.

E-Land, with its business scope ranging from fashion and retail to hotel and restaurants, is expected to post 2.7 trillion won to 3 trillion won in sales in China this year.

“I think our Chinese partners would want E-Land to have a cosmetics division. We will buy a good company at the right time and the products will be sold at E-Land department stores and shopping malls in China and across Asia,” the vice chairwoman said.

“Duty-free shops will also start from overseas because Korea has strict regulations on large corporations,” she added.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)