The Games spread: New five-star hotels,long list of restaurants

The wings of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium have finally spread out and are visible from a distance,so is the basket handle of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

The wings of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium have finally spread out and are visible from a distance,so is the basket handle of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. But far away from these obvious symbols of the Commonwealth Games,more than 110 restaurants have opened up across the city to make the Games a culinary extravaganza as well. Before the event begins,close to 10 new five-star hotels will also open in the Capital.

And for a change,they are no longer restricted to South Delhi or the leafy avenues of New Delhi. If the neon signs of Crowne Plaza will blink in Okhla,the imposing building of Eros Park Royale will tower over the Mayur Vihar skyline. A few kilometres away,close to Karkardooma,a consortium of the Taj Group is also building a new five-star hotel. Rohini in the North west,too,has two new luxury hotels coming up one of them at Subhas Palace and the other at Sector 10. Nearby Paschim Vihar is also getting its share of five-star comfort along with Dwarka which will get two new hotels.

As the luxury hotels spring up all over the Capital,the real impact will be made by the ever-increasing number of eateries. Last financial year,more than 110 joints were added to the existing list of 300 restaurants. South Delhi has got 41 of the new restaurants. The good news does not end there. We are getting at least 5-10 applications for opening new restaurants daily, said a senior Excise department official.

The big question,however,is whether these hotel and restaurants will be able to sustain themselves. At present,the occupancy rate in many of the city hotels is above 65 per cent. But this trend seems to be temporary as there are not many leisure tourists coming to Delhi, says Vijay Thakur,president of Indian Association of Tour Operators.

Thakur is also sceptical about the projections made by Organising Committee and Tourism Ministry about the number of foreign guests who will turn up to see the Games.

Unfortunately,it does not look likely that we will be able to meet the projections made by various authorities. It is a big gamble for the new five-star hotels, adds Thakur.

Inn for the games
60Star-rated hotels
30Five-star hotels
700Guesthouses
400Restaurants

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