A Goan carnival

Every year, two million domestic and foreign tourists land in Goa seeking the warm sun and the beach. But Arun Suri, chairman of Delhi-based, Rs 60-crore Blue Coast Hotels and Resorts, thinks there's little the coastal holiday town has to offer, other than nature. "Other than taking evening cruises and visiting historical sites, there's hardly any entertainment in Goa," he sighs.

So Suri, part of the KB Suri-promoted Morepan Laboratories family, hit upon the idea of creating a Disneyland-style entertainment centre in Goa. To be called "Aldeia De Rio", or traveller's hideaway in Italian, Suri plans to build a mixed-used entertainment, holiday homes and hotel complex for fun-seeking visitors. The 35-acre makeover paradise on the hilly banks of Mandovi river near the Reis Magos fort will have artificial lagoons, water slides and sports.

Suri believes that "hospitality" is really an entertainment business adding that in an upmarket product you cannot separate rejuvenation and recreation. To create the ideal entertainment centre, Suri is building a 200-room five-star hotel, 50 log cabins in a man-made jungle as well as holiday homes for sale.

Designed by Macau-based Sanderson Group, the complex will boast of a day spa, a restaurant and shopping centres. A "view-point" tower is expected to come up at the highest point of the hill "" accessible through a cable car. The project will be completed by 2007 end.

Blue Coast Infrastructure & Development, Suri's new company, will oversee the project pegged at over Rs 250 crore. "We expect to raise money through external commercial borrowings," says Suri.

The company will also develop 125 river-front holiday homes. A four-room duplex house, targeted at non-resident Indians, will cost Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.25 crore.

With Goa becoming an all-year destination, Suri feels there is a great scope of business as demand for Goa as a wedding and corporate destination grows.

"Earlier people wanted a second home in Kasauli or Mussorie. Today, most people want a home in Goa," says Suri. Nearly 680 charter flights arrived in Goa last year, a jump of over 40 per cent over the previous year. This year, nearly 750 flights are expected to touch down.

At present, Blue Coast Hotels & Resorts owns a 251-room five-star property "" Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa "" on Goa's Arossim Beach. Blue Coast Hotel & Resorts, was earlier known as Morepan Hotels and was promoted by Morepan Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of K B Suri-promoted Morepan Laboratories.

At present, the pharmaceutical business is handled by the late promoter's son Sushil Suri while Arun Suri, his elder son, handles the hospitality business.