Hyatt group may bring up hotel in Ludhiana

Ludhiana may get a Hyatt group hotel in two years. Apart from Ludhiana, the company is also looking for Chandigarh in the north.

This was stated by Sushil Gupta, managing director, Hyatt Hotels, who was in the city to address the inaugural session of N'Tour, organised by the Chandigarh Administration and the tourism departments of the northern states in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Highlighting the problems faced by the hoteliers, he said, "Auction of hotel sites is not the solution; the state governments should opt for the public-private partnership model for the development of hotels and promoting tourism."

He suggested, "Instead of auctioning the land for hotel sites, the government can lease the property. The government should offer more sites at affordable prices to promote hotels, which are a big employment generator."

Commenting on expansion plans, he added, "We are looking at places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai. In the north we may come up in Chandigarh as well as Ludhiana."

Commenting on tourism, he added, "Infrastructure and tax rationalisation are areas the state government should focus on. Better roads, and air and rail connectivity can play a pivotal role in promoting tourism."

Gupta said it was expected by 2020 around 40 million foreign would visit India. So the need of the hour is to focus heavily on these two fronts, i.e infrastructure and taxes.