Tourism boom: Engineering firms target hospitality sector

The luxury resort,Madhuban Resort & Spa,is the first five-star facility in central Gujarat — developed by Elecon Group on a 17-acre area — with facilities such as hotel,spa,cottages,clubs and gymnasia. The resort was constructed on the theme of rural Gujarat.

The new state tourism policy,which is expected to be announced in a month or two,has an affordable tax structure for the hospitality sector,which government sources say,has attracted the companies to enter the business.

Elecon has decided to float a separate entity for a golf course and realty segments including residential township along the Mahi river. It has earmarked around 400 acres between Sarsa and Vasad near Anand for which it is looking for a group of cash-rich NRI investors. Electrotherm India too has shown interest in the hospitality sector. “The company is in the process of partnering with some hospitality company to enter the market,” said an official.

Vadodara-based Sandesara group has started its own gymnasium and spa by the name of Sterling Health Centre in Vadodara as part of its plans to foray into the sector.

Incidentally,the government had earlier hinted that it is planning to focus on tourism in a major way. The state received only two per cent of the Foreign and NRI visitors,19 per cent tourists from other Indian states,and 79 per cent from within Gujarat in 2007-08. It has now decided to make Gujarat a tourism hub by 2015. Even religious tourism is expanding in a big way. Through the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode,the government will invest around Rs 1,500 crore in three different projects in the next three years at Ambaji in Banaskantha,Saputara in Dangs and Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.

According to the CII report,Gujarat will be among the top five states in

India for both domestic and international tourist visits.