Tour operators to set up 50 luxury hotels

Jaipur, Sep 8 (UNI) As part of the concerted nation-wide effort to create more hotel rooms to cope with the increasing tourist arrivals under the "Incredible India" campaign, tour operators will also contribute their mite in the endeavour by sponsoring 50 hotel projects across the country.

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) President Subash Goyal told UNI here today that the members of the Association will individually or in groups construct 50 luxury hotels in the next three years.

These hotels would be known as "IATO Hotels''.

"The IATO will take the initiative and work as a driving force for the members to set up the targeted number of hotels," Mr Goyal said, adding that the quantum of the investment of the Association and its role in the mangement would be decided soon by the Executive Committee.

Among the 50 hotels planned in the first phase, Kerala will have the maximum of 10 hotels, IATO Executive member and Air Travel Enterprises Chairman E M Najeeb said.

Mr Goyal said the "IATO Hotels" are meant for leisure tourists and the tariff would be affordable to this category of visitors.

He said the existing star hotels were more interested in business travellers and in the process leisure tourists find it difficult to get bookings at affordable rates.

There is a huge gap between the demand and supply in hotel rooms with perpetual complaints being heard about bouncing of bookings in star hotels during the peak season.

There has always been discord between the tour operators and hoteliers on the issue of bouncing of hotel bookings.

According to estimates of India Tourism, there is a shortage of nearly 30,000 hotel rooms. The capital city of Delhi alone needs nearly 10,000 rooms in the context of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

Unable to cope with the increasing tourist arrivals, several states, including Rajasthan and Delhi, have come out with several schemes to attract private players to set up star and budget hotels.

The Rajasthan government has recently come out with a "Hotel Policy," the first state to come out with such an exercise in the country.

The policy envisaged creation of a "Land Bank" for the purpose of releasing lands to the private investors to create accommodation facilities.

Rajasthan Tourism Minister Usha Punia told UNI that the district collectors had already been asked to identify the land for constributing to the land bank.

The investors would be given land at half the market price.

"There has been tremendous response to the scheme," she said on the sidelines of the ongoing IATO convention here yesterday.

Indian Railways have also come forward to set up 100 budget hotels in their lands lying vacant near the railways stations in cities and big towns.

UNI SH MSJ PC1926