Get ready – the Chinese middle class is coming to Britain

The hotel industry is catching on to the growing financial might of China's middle class, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

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Chinese tourists are heading for London

About five years ago, I interviewed Russell Napier for MoneyWeek; we've talked many times since (you can watch the latest interview here). When I asked him what he thought the best long-term investment a person could make was at the time, he said a guest house or hotel in a city the Chinese might like, designed in such a way as to make Chinese guests feel comfortable and staffed by at least one Chinese speaker. Good call.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.