Marriott, the US hotel company, is planning to move a large chunk of its business overseas as a result of strict US travel regulations.

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, Marriott chair and CEO - J.W. Marriott - said that the company wanted to be operated up to half of its business overseas in the next 10 years.

Marriott said the firm would be targeting developing markets such as China, India and Brazil.

The firm intends to have a total of 60 hotels in China by the end of the year, and to double that in the next five years. It currently has 12 hotels in India, but plans to have 100 in the next fives years. There are plans for 50 hotels to built in Brazil in the coming years as well.

While Marriott said that the company's sales per occupied room were up 4.5 per cent this year (with a bigger increase expected next year), he called the nine years since 9/11 "the lost decade".