The promoters of Bengal-based 89 cinemas, which was later merged with Inox in 2007-08, have entered the hospitality industry by launching their first hotel project in the pilgrimage town of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. The company said it has lined up five more launches under the brand name Daiwik Hotels and will focus on pilgrimage destinations. The company said it is also open for private equity investments.
Debashis Ghosal, managing director and chief executive officer of Daiwik Hotels Private Ltd, said that the company is planning to set up 530 rooms over the next 2.5 years with an investment of around Rs 180 crore. The investment will be funded through both debt and equity, with 60:40 ratio, while the initial equity portion will be from the promoters,the company is also open for PE funds, provided the brand is not diluted, he said.
The first property of the company was inaugurated at Rameswaram, and will be followed one in Tirupati. The company is also planning to set up hotels in Madurai, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram and Srisailam in the south, and in Dwaraka and Vaishnodevi in the north.
“We are having the first-mover advantage by identifying the need-gap for pilgrimage hospitality. With the growing influx of middle-income and high-income group pilgrims, there is a huge unmet demand in the contemporary pilgrim requirements of quality hotels and a stress-free holistic pilgrim experience, which so far is largely unorganised,” said Ghosal.
He said that in fiscal 2010, the domestic travel industry registered 740 million travellers, of which 450 million were pilgrimage travellers. The number is growing around 13 per cent every year.
Rameshwaram, an important Char Dham and one of the 12 Jyotirlingams, had as many as 9.8 million visitors in 2011. Daiwik Hotels Rameswaram marks the first organised hospitality venture in the district with its four-star property. With an investment of Rs 29 crore, the 61,000 sq ft property is built on a land area of 1.1 acres with 90 rooms.
The flagship project from the brand will come up in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh by the end of next year. Built on an area of 1.5 acres, the 115,000 sq.ft property will have around 140 rooms. The hill town of Tirumala receives 23 million visitors annually and the efficiently planned tourism infrastructure plays an important role in enhancing pilgrim experience.
The four-star Daiwik Hotels Tirupati property will provide a host of knowledge-based services like guided tours, historical information about the place, an area for religious discourses and recreational activities like yoga, ayurvedic spa, etc. to cater to every essential necessity of a modern day pilgrim.
