INVC Bureau
New Delhi. Shri Sujit Banerjee, Secretary Union Ministry of Tourism has said that the requirement of hotel accommodation in the country is estimated at 240 thousand rooms against availability of around 90 thousand rooms. He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a new hotel in Gurgaon today. He said initiatives have been taken to bridge this gap. In the budget of 2008-09, five year tax holiday has been provided for two, three and four-star hotels coming up in destinations having UNESCO declared World Heritage Sites. In addition, in view of the Commonwealth Games-2010 tax holiday has also been extended to 2, 3 and 4 star hotels that come up before 31.3.2010 in the NCR region. Due to the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has de-linked credit for hotel projects from commercial real estate, thereby enabling hotel projects to avail credit at relaxed norms and reduced interest rates. In addition, the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms have been relaxed by Ministry of Finance to solve the problem of liquidity being faced by the hotel industry due to economic slow down.
New Delhi. Shri Sujit Banerjee, Secretary Union Ministry of Tourism has said that the requirement of hotel accommodation in the country is estimated at 240 thousand rooms against availability of around 90 thousand rooms. He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a new hotel in Gurgaon today. He said initiatives have been taken to bridge this gap. In the budget of 2008-09, five year tax holiday has been provided for two, three and four-star hotels coming up in destinations having UNESCO declared World Heritage Sites. In addition, in view of the Commonwealth Games-2010 tax holiday has also been extended to 2, 3 and 4 star hotels that come up before 31.3.2010 in the NCR region. Due to the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has de-linked credit for hotel projects from commercial real estate, thereby enabling hotel projects to avail credit at relaxed norms and reduced interest rates. In addition, the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms have been relaxed by Ministry of Finance to solve the problem of liquidity being faced by the hotel industry due to economic slow down.
Referring to CWG, 2010 Shri Banerjee said, it is estimated that there will be a requirement of additional 30,000 hotel rooms for the Games. The Union Ministry of Tourism is, therefore, actively involved in monitoring the creation of additional accommodation for the purpose. He said a Task Force constituted for this purpose monitors the additional new hotel accommodation coming up in the Delhi/NCR, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by holding regular meetings with all concerned land owning authorities, concerned Ministries / Departments. The latest review indicated the availability of 10,268 rooms under the ‘definite’ and 1,757 rooms under the ‘likely’ category. Further, 5,500 housing flats of DDA located at Vasant Kunj and Jasola will be upgraded / furnished and operated by ITDC for the Games as alternate accommodation of three star standards. It is also proposed to utilize the services of around 11000 rooms available from the licenced guest houses and around 3,000 Bed & Breakfast units for the Games.
He said, hotel Ashok, Samrat and Janpath under the ITDC in New Delhi have been declared as the Official Hotels for the Games. While The Ashok and Samrat would be the Games Family Hotels, Janpath would be for Press and Media. These hotels have undertaken a major renovation work to prepare them for the event.
Shri Sujit Banerjee stated that the State of Haryana is providing a major chunk of hotel accommodation for the Commonwealth Games. Giving details of the accommodation likely to be made available in Haryana, he said, as per latest position, 6,632 rooms are in the definite category and 2,161 rooms are in the likely and doubtful category. Out of 6,632 rooms, 4,224 rooms are already functional and 410 rooms are likely to be made functional shortly. For the remaining rooms, the progress is being closely monitored so that they are also completed at the earliest. Similarly, under the likely and doubtful category, the progress of construction is being monitored project-wise and the Government is providing facilitation regarding sanction of loans and expediting grant of licences etc. so that these rooms could also be completed and made available for the Commonwealth Games.
