Sudipta Dev – Lucknow
Heritage Hospitality Association of Uttar Pradesh was formed two years back with the aim of promoting heritage tourism in the state of UP. The association comprises of those people who own palaces, forts and havelis in the state and are keen to convert their properties into hotels. “Through the association the first step that we took was to push the government to give us some incentives on the restoration and promotion of these old buildings for tourism purposes,” said Pradiyumn Narain Dutta Singh, secretary, Heritage Hospitality Association of UP. The new heritage policy in the state has been welcomed by the association with the government providing a capital subsidy of about Rs 1.5 crore to heritage property owners. “This will be a big help as 25 per cent of the capital invested in the restoration the government will give as a subsidy. A lot of heritage properties can take advantage of this,” added Singh.
The state government, acknowledged Singh, has been cooperative in meeting the association’s demands and requests and have given a positive heritage tourism policy. There are a few teething problems of course. “Most of these properties are inherited through generations so we do not have registered documents to prove the ownership. We have approached the government to come out with a clause in the policy which can cover the problem so that banks can give us loans. The government is coming out with an additional order on that,” mentioned Singh.
Currently the association has 18 members, with many more joining in. Seven properties are running as hotels or homestays while others are being readied. Most of them will be functional by October 2015. Singh is confident that by October 2016, 25 heritage hotels will be operational. These properties are located in the entire state of Uttar Pradesh – in Buddhist circuit, religious circuit, wildlife circuit, etc. “Most of the properties are owned by former landlords and zamindars and they’ve all had something typical about their family, either the food or culture or dress. We would promote all these aspects though tourism in these properties. There are local handicrafts of those areas, which we also want to promote,” he said. Many of the properties are located around three hours drive from Lucknow. Singh believes that the promotion of Heritage Arc by the state government is the best thing that could have happened as the entire concentration of tourism will be around Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi. People can go to the interiors and visit these heritage properties from these cities as landing and exit base.