Infrastructure has been the bane of the Indian tourism sector. While the new projects coming up are state-of-the-art, but speed of these becoming active leaves a lot to be desired. This is hurting the investment opportunities that can come into the country in the tourism sector. To address these issues CITI 2013 brought together five states of India and AAHOA delegation. The two day event began with Dr Arbind Prasad, director general, FICCI; Rahul Chakravarty, director, FICCI; Alkesh Patel, chairman, AAHOA; Amitabh Kant, CEO and MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation; Usha Sharma, additional director general, ministry of Tourism, government of India and guest of honour Dr Amit Mitra, finance minister, government of West Bengal discussing the potential of the tourism sector in India and impetus for its growth.
Reiterating the power and impact of tourism in India’s economy, Dr Prasad said, “As much as 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP is from tourism, this is set to grow further in 10 years time. Even domestic tourism is seeing a growth of 12-14 per cent.” He also threw light on the need to develop smaller cities and their tourism potential. Kant with his extensive background in the travel and tourism space further built on the tourism potential discussing the sector’s great multiplier effect. He added that tourism is all the more critical for India and job creation.
States in focus
The government too is looking at the tourism sector as a mode to alleviate poverty. “This is why tourism has been given prominence in the 12th Five Year Plan,” said Sharma. The ministry of tourism is looking at doubling the number of tourist arrivals into India by 2015, this needs better infrastructure. Sharma also informed that 54 new destinations have been identified and the ministry of tourism is looking at promoting and supporting them in a big way. “We are in the process of identifying more such sites,” she added. She went on to mention the other proactive steps that India government has taken to promote tourism including the infrastructure status to three-star and above category hotels, 100 per cent FDI in hotels, establishment of the Hospitality Development Promotion Board, Hunar Se Rozgar scheme and focus on sustainable ecotourism.
A key area of focus was how the states are also looking for investment opportunities. An enthusiastic Dr Mitra said, “We are looking at tourism not just to create jobs but also to bring in investment back to West Bengal.” Locations like Dooars, Darjeeling and Sunderbans are the state’s pride and Dr Mitra wants to leverage them to bring in more tourism. “The PPP model has been formalised with a structured step by step process,” he said. The state has also become technologically progressive with the purchase of Oracle’s biggest servers. He added that all government tenders now can only be bid for via the online medium. Taking off where Dr Mitra left off was Vikram Sen, principal secretary, tourism, Government of West Bengal. His reasons to invest in West Bengal included – ready land available for projects, government has made tourism a thrust area for growth and there are diversified tourism investment opportunities. The state is also looking at infrastructure expansion. There are airports scheduled at Durgapur, Cooch Behar and Malda. The existing airports of Kolkata and Bagdogra are being expanded. New roads are being built by the State Highway Development Corporation; many of these are under the PPP model. Kolkata and Haldia are the only two ports in the state, there are plans to develop ports in GangaSagar and Rasulpur.
Sen informed that West Bengal has five mega tourism projects in the offing which will cost Rs 3560 crore. There is also land available for four- and five-star hotel projects in five destinations as well as land for skill development projects like hotel management institutes, food craft institutes and culinary institutes.
The other state which has sprung up on the tourism landscape is the state of Gujarat. Making a case for investment in Gujarat were Manish Rege, director and CEO, Gujarat Tourism Opportunity (GUJTOP) and Sanjay Kaul, commissioner of tourism, Government of Gujarat. Rege informed that by 2017 it is projected that Gujarat will have 100,530 rooms from the current 60,000 plus. He then elaborated on GUJTOPs plan of developing 16 beach locations, eight ecotourism locations, four locations for religious tourism, 10 Buddhist tourism locations and 17 locations for water sports. “Of these we have successfully closed one bid for beach location, two for ecotourism, while six projects have been bid out for the water sports project,” he said. Kaul added that the enthusiasm to invest in Gujarat was also visible at the Vibrant Gujarat 2013 with 279 MoUs being signed. Other states who offered similar presentations were Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
Private interest
Signs of investments waiting to enter India are there; Asian/Indian hotel developers who have set high benchmarks in the US are in search for open doors. Patel who lead the delegation from AAHOA reaffirmed the communities faith in India, “We are looking for opportunities despite the existing challenges.” AAHOA brought in its delegation of ssenior veterans from the American hotel industry. Roger Bloss, president and CEO, Vantage Hospitality Group; Doug Collins, chairman and CEO, America’s Best Franchise; Nancy Johnson, EVP, Development Americas, Carlson Rezidor; Mukesh Mowji, president and CEO, VanMYT Hospitality and Vilas Pawar, CEO, Choice Hotels India. Johnson said, “The hotel industry needs to come together with the government to create better policies. India has to push for better policies,” when discussing making hotels a stronghold for the tourism sector. Patel added that if the investment makes sense nothing can stop them from making it.
The veterans went on to explain that it takes foresight and vision to create a brand and hotel which is a landmark. Realistic approach is imperative to make hotels a successful venture for any investor/developer. CITI also hosted an exhibition featuring hospitality suppliers.
