Langham Hospitality Group, a Hong Kong-based operator, signed a management agreement to invest in Xiongan New Area, a development southwest of Beijing. This move indicates growing private sector interest in the state-backed high-tech growth hub.

A hotel operator’s planned entry into Xiongan New Area southwest of Beijing highlights a tentative but growing alignment between Hong Kong’s private sector and the state-backed development project, as leaders renew efforts to accelerate the zone’s transformation into a hi-tech growth hub. Hong Kong-based Langham Hospitality Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Eagle Holdings, said on Thursday that it had signed a management agreement with China Xiongan Group Public Service Management to...