Country Club India Ltd. to open chain of Ayurveda spas

Kochi, Jun 26 (UNI) Country Club India Ltd. (CCIL), an entertainment and leisure company operating family clubs in various parts of India, is to invest Rs 500 crore this year in its ventures including a new chain of Ayurveda spas, company CMD Y Rajeev Reddy said today.

Addressing a press conference here to announce the entry of CCIL in Kerala, Mr Reddy said Country Club had tied up with Kerala-based Ayurveda treatment provider 'Kairali' for its new venture.

Describing Ayurveda as the ''need of the hour'', he said CCIL would open an exclusive chain of Ayurveda spas, starting with Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. These spas would be run exclusively as treatment and rejuvenation centres where no alcohol or non-vegetarian food would be served.

''There is a big demand for Ayurveda treatment overseas. These centres would provide authentic Ayurveda treatment and a de-toxifying lifestyle to the visitors,'' he added.

Talking of CCIL's entry into Kerala, he said the company had acquired two properties -- one each at Kovalam and at Vypeen Island near Kochi. It had also tied up with ten franchisees for properties at popular tourist destinations including Munnar, Wayanad, Cherai and Alappuzha.

Company COO Varun Reddy said there was an increasing demand among the CCIL members for holidays in Kerala. ''No holiday or leisure firm can be complete today without properties in Kerala,'' he added.

Mr Rajeev Reddy said CCIL had achieved a turnover of Rs 167 crore last year and a profit of Rs 34 crore.

The company, which had got into the family club business in the early 1990s with its first club at Hyderabad, presently offered 155 destinations, including franchisee properties and 170 affiliates.

Its global affiliation to RCI, a pioneer of exchange holidays and non-hotel leisure accommodation, made available 3900 properities all over the world to the CCIL members. It also had its own property near Colombo in Sri Lanka and was looking for one at Malaysia, Mr Reddy said.

The club's one-time membership fee ranged from Rs 50,000 to Rs ten lakh besides an annual membership fee of Rs 2,000.

The CCIL was hoping to enrol about 10,000 members in Kerala during this fiscal. The company presently had 150,000 members all over India besides 375 corporate members including Microsoft, Stayam Computers, Global Trust Bank, Brooke Bond and Dr Reddy's Labs.

Besides availing of state-of-the-art leisure facilities including swimming pools, gymnasia and night clubs at the local CCIL club, the members were also entitled to free holidays for one week in a year at any CCIL property in the country.

Mr Shaji Mathew, CEO, Country Vacation, said the property at Vypeen Island near Kochi would be affiliated to RCI, paving the way for a lot of foreigners to come for holidays here. The one at Kovalam was being upgraded to a five star deluxe luxury accommodation, he added.

UNI