South goes north

NEW DELHI: Take a look around. Delhi isn’t the only city facing a shortage of hotel rooms. South India is no better. But there is good news for the hotel industry — as many as 3,500 rooms will be added to the existing hospitality facilities in South India, as part of 112 projects sanctioned for the region by the central tourism department this fiscal.

Of the 112 projects, Kerala has received the lion’s share of 54, followed by Tamil Nadu with 29. The projects involve adding 3,500 rooms to existing accommodation facilities in the southern states, which face capacity constraints due to mushrooming IT and ITeS industries.

Says K B Kachru, country head, Carlson Group: ”In the hospitality sector boom, the foreign business traveller is playing an important role. It’s estimated that there has been an increase of 25 to 30% in foreign business traveller in 2005. If more rooms will be added to the existing lot, it will definitely help the industry grow.”

Tourist arrivals, showing a positive growth for the last three years, have shown a positive growth in the first five months of this year also.

Last year, it had been good for the hotel industry and fuelled development and expansion plans of various hotel chains. This resulted into more international brands entering the country.