French fashion designer Thierry Gillier has apologised for saying that Chinese holidaymakers will not be welcome at a luxury hotel he plans to open in Paris.
Gillier, the founder of Zadig and Voltaire labels, told Women's Wear Daily magazine that his hotel "won't be open to Chinese tourists".
The BBC reports the statement caused outrage in China where the comments went viral on social networking sites.
Gillier said on Thursday his comments were taken out of context.
"My remarks were doubtless clumsy ... I understand they might have hurt my friends from China, France or elsewhere, and I am deeply sorry for that," he said in a statement.
The statement added that Gillier wanted to underscore the exclusivity of the hotel and emphasise that it would not cater for the mass tourism market.
A BBC correspondent in Paris said Mr Gillier had urged the magazine to modify his quotation from "Chinese tourists" to "busloads of tourists".
The Zadig hotel is due to open in 2014 on the Left Bank.
