Carlson to scale up its India operations

Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) International hospitality majorCarlson, which runs the luxury chain Radisson, plans to scaleup its Indian operations to 50 hotels this year and also looksat more than doubling the portfolio by 2015, its President andCEO Hubert Joly said.

"We are quite optimistic about India''s tourism and travelgrowth story, which is all set to double in size this year. Wesee India as a strategic destination with enormous opportunityand hence plan to scale up our operations here," Joly told PTIhere today.

Carlson plans to open 19 more hotels this year and willbe signing the contracts shortly, Joly said.

Besides Radisson, Carlson also operates Park Plaza inthe premium segment and two brands--Country Inn and Suites andPark Inn--in the mid-segment. About 90 per cent of the hotelsare operated, globally, through management contracts andfranchise model.

Of the 19 properties Carlson plans to open this year, 11would be Radisson with 1542 rooms, five Park Plaza, twoCountry Inns and suites and one Park Inn. It already runs 15Radisson Hotels with 4,087 keys, 10 Country Inns, 6 Park Plazaand 3 Park Inns.

Carlson also holds a 26 per cent stake in CountryDevelopment and Marketing Services (CDMS), promoted by RanjanBhattacharya.

CDMS is the franchise partner for Country Inn andSuites.

"This is the right time to expand in India as the GDP isgrowing at 8-9 per cent. Our focus will be equally on theluxury as well as the mid-scale segment (Rs 4,000-5000 pernight). Our aim is to be one of the largest players in thecountry.

"With our strong brands we also look at investing morein terms of manpower. The hotels would be generating thousandsof jobs every year," Joly said without giving any specificinvestment figure.

The company''s initial focus would be on the Delhi NCRregion followed by south and west and then the eastern region,Joly said adding that it plans to open two Radisson hotels inMalad and Powai (Mumbai) and one in Coimbatore in early 2012.

Carlson, that operates around 1,085 hotels globally,would open its Indian properties in cities such as Agra,Amritsar, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Goa, Ahmedabad and Chennaiamong others.

"This is the right time to expand in India as the GDP is growing at 8-9 per cent. Our focus will be equally on theluxury as well as the mid-scale segment (Rs 4,000-5000 pernight). Our aim is to be one of the largest players in thecountry. With our strong brands we also look at investing morein terms of manpower. The hotels would be generating thousandsof jobs every year," Joly said without giving any specificinvestment figure.

The company''s initial focus would be on the DelhiNCR region followed by south and west and then the easternregion, Joly said adding that it plans to open two Radissonhotels in Malad and Powai (Mumbai) and one in Coimbatore inearly 2012.

Carlson, that operates around 1,085 hotels globally,would open its Indian properties in cities such as Agra,Amritsar, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Goa, Ahmedabad and Chennaiamong others.