Hotel promotion by Delhi Govt - is it an eye wash?

The Delhi tourism ministry is going to form a panel to suggest measures to increase the availability of hotel rooms before the 2010 Commonwealth Games,which will be held here.

Based on the report of the panel, the ministry will come out with schemes. The government is expecting one-lakh visitors at the games.

“The whole focus is to create additional accommodation in Delhi facilities and ensure that there is enough room for all. Besides, short supply has been driving up room rates, which we need to counter,” a senior tourism ministry official said.

At present, there are only about 11,000 rooms in star-category hotels in the National Capital Region, against the ministry’s estimate of 30,000 more rooms during the games.

The official said that going by the present trend, only 2,000 more rooms would be available.

The government has given a five-year tax holiday to two-, three- and four-star hotels and convention centres in Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad.

Besides, upgradation and renovation of existing hotel rooms will be done, the official said.

Attaching high priority to the safety of players and tourists, the government has decided to train 30,000 volunteers.

The ministry has also introduced a short training scheme to sensitise the youth.

The ministry has also requested the hotels to upgrade the infrastructure and be ready for the games, the official said, adding that the Haryana government is in the process of upgrading the tourism complexes run by its tourism department.


That all said, is the Govt. serious about the above or it is just guestimating the numbers. This year due to the THE BIG SQUEEZE or THE CREDIT CRUNCH - call it what you may - the number of tourists are down and travel industry is facing empty rooms in its peak season.

I think this will be a big humbug and the usual Govt. apathy will result in small businees owners losing out while the big GUNS like real estate tycoons with hoardes of money will benefit from the tax incentives.