Marriott International, Inc. annouced that it expects its portfolio of hotels either open or under development to surpass one million rooms by the end of the year.

Continuing its trajectory of rapid global growth and creating opportunity, Marriott International, Inc. annouced that it expects its portfolio of hotels either open or under development to surpass one million rooms by the end of the year. When open, the hotels under development will have generated more than $50 billion in real estate investment globally by Marriott’s owner partners and created over 150,000 anticipated new hotel jobs.

Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s president and chief executive officer, said, “In 2014 alone, Marriott signed agreements for more than 650 hotels and 100,000 rooms to be added to its worldwide system over the next few years, a signing pace of nearly two new hotel deals a day.

“With nearly one billion people moving upward into the middle class across the globe, the incentives to travel, both for business and to see the world, are powerful and are building in momentum. The doors to travel are increasingly open, as seen in the recent landmark agreement between China and the US for mutual 10-year visas. Since that policy change was announced there has been a nearly 39% increase in applications for U.S. visas for Chinese visitors, who spend on average, seven thousand dollars per trip. The potential for new travel and economic growth is huge,” said Sorenson.

Tony Capuano, Marriott’s executive vice president and chief development officer, said that the company’s dramatic growth profile has been building steadily. “We achieved record growth across the board in 2014, as we opened more than 46,000 rooms worldwide. Having signed agreements in 2014 for over 650 new hotels and 100,000 rooms, we boosted our record pipeline of new hotel development to nearly 240,000 rooms. When opened over the next few years, these new hotels will expand Marriott’s presence from 80 countries and territories today to more than 100. This continues an historic four-year surge in demand for new Marriott hotels that drives a bullish growth outlook.

“Our success has been boosted by a number of factors, including our continental leadership structure that connects our local development teams with development partners and lenders, the continuity of our senior development team, and the introduction of new brands which accounted for nearly 40% of our new room openings this past year. ”

In Asia, the company expects to more than double its distribution as hotel projects in the current pipeline open, more than doubling Marriott’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region.