 51 new hotels in South India
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The hotel industry in South India is poised for a boom, and proposals had been made to launch 51 new hotels in this region, including four with foreign collaboration, says M P Purushothaman, President, South India Hotels & Restaurants Association.
The average investment per hotel would be in the range of Rs 20 lakh per room. Of the 51 new projects that would come up, four would be in Chennai, two in
Pondicherry, 19 in Kerala, seven in
Andhra Pradesh and the rest in
Karnataka. Most of these hotels would be in the three-star category.
The hotel industry was growing at the rate of 40 per cent, he said pointing out that the highest growth rate seemed to be in
Bangalore now.
The association secretary, Rangachari, said there were considerable opportunities in medical tourism in the South, particularly in Tamil Nadu and
Kerala.
Purushothaman, addressing the 53rd Annual General Meeting on 4th September, 2004 at
Taj Connemara in Chennai, pointed out that 52 years ago, at the same hotel, seven enterprising men conceived the idea of forming an Association to look after the fledging industry in a newly independent country. From a small beginning, the Association, has grown steadily.
Representations regarding abolition of Service Tax, providing Infrastructure status to Hotel Industry have been submitted to the Finance Ministry, he said. The open sky policy of the Aviation Sector has resulted in a few low-cost, no frills airlines coming into the fray. This will not only increase the passenger traffic but also open up lesser known destinations resulting in more number of hotels coming up. The year 2004 opened with an occupancy boom in select places in South India. If this trend continued, more hotels will come up, he said referring to the increase in applications for project approvals received by the Department of Tourism, Government of India.
The 40th FHRAI Convention will be held this year between 9-11th September at Dubai with the theme 'India - Tourism The Way Ahead'.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh had waived the Luxury Tax for newly-built hotels. The Hospitality industry in Kerala faces problems relating to withdrawal of concession on building tax and increased turnover tax and levy of Luxury Tax on transportation provided to the guests, he said, adding that the Kerala Government was considering the classification of Tourism as an industry.
"We are also happy that the Government of Pondicherry along with the Government of India had declared Pondicherry as a Heritage Town and is planning to provide more concessions to the hotel industry in a big way," Purushothaman said.
He thanked the Tamil Nadu government for having reduced Luxury Tax from 25% to 12.5% on printed Tariff. The association had also represented to the Chief Minister on reducing the tax to 10% on actuals. The Tourism outlay of Tamil Nadu was increased from Rs 17 crore to 30 crore, he noted with satisfaction.
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