A travel in time

TOURISM WelcomHeritage president Rakesh Mathur is on a mission to buy old style properties in the North-east

People plan their vacations around holiday periods, and the Christmas-New Year's week is usually taboo where work is concerned. But Rakesh Mathur, maverick (he prefers "responsible") president of WelcomHeritage, the ITC hotel company that includes all properties that fit into its growing concept of "heritage tourism", has planned three weeks of travel to the North-east to coincide with just that period.

"I'll probably catch Christmas in Shillong," says the man who begins each morning, when he is in Delhi, walking in the precincts of Humayun's Tomb, picking up plastic bottles and other debris left behind by careless tourists.

That's another pet fad of his, the entire business of responsibility and tourism, of educating schoolkids on conservation and getting them to participate in compulsory social service, but about that another time.

For now, Mathur's focus is on developing new circuits, because heritage tourism, he insists, "is all about developing circuits". True, if you think that most of those who arrive at a heritage resort are either driving there, or link up with a couple of other resort-destinations to provide themselves a complete holiday.

Mathur's task is both easy and difficult, as he should find on his North-eastern tour, where he has already signed up properties in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, for instance. "Ever since Umaid Bhawan pulled out in 2003," he says, and there were no more "large properties" available, WelcomHeritage changed strategy to develop and include any property that was built in the traditional architectural style and used local arts and labour.

The result has been the addition of Goan homes, tea plantation bungalows, rural forest retreats, even an ayurvedic resort in Hyderabad, into the system, contributing to its 1,300 rooms at present.

In the past, the guest experience had resulted in complaints fuelled by expectations of luxury. Mathur now says that he wants to "manage expectations. We are not selling a product, service or destination but the complete experience."

In other words, while a dripping tap might be a problem, it should not define a heritage break. In any case, "with the younger generation taking over heritage properties, their ambitions and wanting to do things better is adding a new edge to the experience".

Still, Mathur, who says his North-eastern peregrinations should help him consolidate a network of properties in the region, points out that local state governments play a very important role in the promotion of heritage tourism.

"I'm constantly pushing them for heritage tourism guidelines," he says, "and I want the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to frame national heritage tourism guidelines."

How does Mathur decide which property works for WelcomHeritage and which doesn't? "I sign a property provided it is part of a sellable circuit," he says. Based on what returns?

WelcomHeritage will complete the current fiscal on a turnover of Rs 45 crore, but says Mathur, "Our success must be gauged on the basis of occupancies and individual room rates, not our turnover because we are a branding company and merely the first link. Once a traveller has used any of our properties, he will thereafter link up directly. So, we should be seen for the continuous support and quality enhancement we provide."

On the positive side, at least 10 WelcomHeritage properties have increased room capacity by 30 per cent, and revenues as of September 2007 are up by 30 per cent over the previous year. "They are long-term gainers," says Mathur of his flock of heritage properties, "and a major incentive for them is that they are eligible for a bank loan the minute they sign up with us."

"As long as there is the weekend traveller, or the traveller looking for short breaks," says Mathur, "heritage tourism will exist." And having, as he promised, "to grow beyond Rajasthan", it might not be at too distant a time when we will find ourselves dogging his footsteps as he develops well-thought out circuits in the North-east.