Anantara Hotels enters India, to set up 8 hotels in 5 years

MUMBAI: Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, a leading hospitality and leisure player, today announced its expansion into the Indian market.

The Thailand-based hotel group plans to set up eight hotels in the country in the next five years.

"We will set up our first hotel at Mahabalipuram near Chennai by 2011. We are also planning to set up hotels in Goa, Rajasthan and Kerala," Anantara's Group Director of Public Relations, Marion Walsh, told reporters here.

Anantara has a presence in four countries with 11 hotels and plans to set up 40 more in the next five years across the globe.

"(Our) first four hotels will come up in the Maldives, China, Oman and Thailand by 2010," Walsh said.

"We want to bank on our brand with the presence in India. We will build luxury hotels to tap the home as well as foreign tourists," she said.