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The number of hotel rooms in the whole of India is less
than the number of hotel rooms in one single city such
as New York or Shanghai. The current capacity of 75,000
rooms just accounts for 50% of the existing requirement.
IR has decided to use its surplus land commercially
and these hotels will be constructed on the railway
sites already identified.
The hotels will be constructed in public-private participation
(PPP) mode. "We have finalised 20 sites —
mostly near railway stations — to be given to
hotel chains for construction of budget hotels. The
sites are in Agra, Pune, Mumbai, Darjeeling, New Jalpaiguri
and Jaipur. It is estimated that railways will earn
about Rs 0.3 billion -0.350 billion from the collaboration
with hospitality majors. The revenue-sharing agreement
has not been finalised yet," said a senior Indian
Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation official involved
with the budget hotel project.
"For the fourth year in a row, the hospitality
market has witnessed an increase both in terms of occupancy
and average rate. Average rates, however, saw exceptionally
strong increases over the previous year. Hotel room
shortage can only be bridged if we construct more and
more budget hotels," said K B Kachru, country head,
Carlson Group.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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