With the economy showing signs of improvement, corporate tourism is back on track as hoteliers in the region are trying to gain from it. Representatives from hospitality sector in the region maintained last year the business was down by 20-25 per cent but this year the sector had gained momentum.
Realising Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (Mice) tourism was best suited for hospitality industry in the region, hoteliers are trying to promote corporate tourism which they believe is best suited for Chandigarh. Hoteliers in the region believe and maintain that Chandigarh as a city has enough for the corporate traveller and in coming times they are looking at more business through this channel.
Officials from Taj Chandigarh, which is one of the forerunner hotel in the city for hosting conference tourism, maintained Chandigarh has all the features it needs to host conference tourism. Besides having vibrancy and culture, features like easy access to city by road, rail and air and attractions in and around Chandigarh are ideally suited for conference tourism.
As per officials from the Taj Chandigarh more than 60% of the revenue for Taj in Chandigarh came through the corporate tourism.
“Taj Chandigarh Hotel offers 149 well decorated spacious guestrooms, with 24-hour operational business hall. The hotel has five banquet halls and three meeting rooms and the maximum conference and banquet capacities of the hotel, for one event are 400 and 750 guests respectively. The meeting rooms can accommodate 6 to 8 persons.
Similarly Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, which recently launched its economy brand hotel Hometel, in Chandigarh maintained they were looking at corporate tourism as the major source of revenue for the hotel.
Ajay K Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotel and Resorts maintained the 114-room hotel, owned and managed by Sarovar Hotels & Resorts would not only meet the escalating demand for quality accommodation for visitors to the city but would also offer huge banquet space spread over an area of 8,200 sq ft.
“Another remarkable aspect would be the conferencing facility at Hometel Chandigarh. Imperial Rooms the lavish banquet space at the hotel is spread over an area of more than 8000 sq ft and includes 6 state-of-the-art venues. The Imperial Ballroom, complete with a pre-function area is the largest in Chandigarh with a capacity to accommodate up to 600 guests. Also available are smaller conference and meeting rooms as well as a modern Boardroom, to cater to every requirement of the business traveller”.
General manager Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (Citco) A K Malhotra Chandigarh echoed similar sentiments.
Citco has three hotels in the region, Hotel Mountview (five star category), Hotel Shivalikview (four star category) and Hotel Parkview.
Around 40 per cent of the business for Citco hotels comes through banquets and conferences.
Malhotra added Chandigarh besides being logistically located also had magnetic effect on visitors owing to other tourist locations in the vicinity. He added with the fact that Chandigarh offered good accommodation at cheaper rates; the city definitely was geared for meeting the corporate tourists.
