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Rajasthan's new hotel policy hailed
New Delhi: The hospitality industry on Tuesday welcomed the Rajasthan Government's new Hotel Policy, saying that it help improve tourist-related infrastructure and tourist arrivals in the state. The new policy was announced at a conference here by Usha Punia, Rajasthan's Minister of State for Tourism. She said that the new policy would help speed up the creation of hotel infrastructure in order to overcome the current estimated shortage of 20,000 rooms. Punia also said that the state government has decided to improve connectivity for which it is expanding 13 airstrips to 6,000 ft runways. This will improve air connectivity.
The National Highways network is also being expanded and Jaipur-Agra is one such project. Placing emphasis on public-private partnership (PPP), Punia said that under this, the government planned to allow the private sector to develop government properties into tourism units. The other incentives included a special reserve price for land and higher FAR. The government will create a land bank that the private sector can draw on, she said. She said that the private sector should take the lead in investing in hotels, especially budget and 1-, 2- and 3-star hotels. The government will act as a facilitator. It will offer land that it owns to the private sector on equity and revenue sharing basis to encourage PPP. "We can fulfill the demand by developing circuits - the Jaipur, National Capital Region, Mewar-waged circuit and Brijbhumi.". The government plans to invest Rs. 8 crore in each circuit.
In Mewar complex, an investment of Rs. 6.75 crore will be made. Further, the government has launched an adopt-a-monument scheme to encourage private participation in the maintenance of monuments," Punia said. Rajasthan's Tourism Secretary, Vinod Zutshi, said Rajasthan is the only state with a policy for the hotel industry to step up investments. "There has been a growth of 40 percent in foreign arrivals and 30 percent in domestic tourism in the past three years. Hotel industry growth has lagged at 7-10 percent, creating a demand- supply gap. Therefore the state government has announced this to incentives growth of the hotel industry," he said. He said investments is expected to come from the private sector but the state has taken the initiative to offer land for joint ventures. "Hotel industry associations have hailed the policy," he said.
Chairman,
CII National Committee on Tourism, S S H Rehman, said tourism is one of
the prime growth drivers. India is ranked second worldwide among countries
where tourism is supposed to grow fastest. India needs 300,000 additional
hands for the hotel industry and Rajasthan will have a substantial share.
Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Hotels, Lalit Suri, said tourism
is important for generating both employment and revenue. The policy has
evolved from consultations held by the state government with industry
and international experts in 2005. He said medical tourism is likely to
pick up as Dr Trehan is making a hospital in Jaipur and other private
medical service providers are also interested. Other states are expected
to announce policies, including Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. However, the
rest need to follow suit.
-Aug 22, 2006
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