The Hindu Business Line : AP Hotels Assn preparing charter of demands

The hoteliers want the Government to include some necessary ingredients into the city life in order to attract tourists.In a memorandum submitted to the Tourism Department last week, the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Andhra Pradesh wanted creation of night bazaars a la Khan-ae-Khaleili of Cairo in the twin cities. "We can go for night bazaars at Charminar and other vantage joints in the city," Mr Veer Vijay Singh, President of the association told Business Line.

"People will be interested to go out on the streets at nights. We can serve traditional food, while showing traditional handicrafts like silver filigree, bidri ware. Charminar is one good locale for this," he said.

The association also wanted the Government to extend bar timings well past midnight. It also felt that midnight deadline for closure of discotheques was not reasonable. "A good number of customers would come around 10 p.m.-10.30 p.m," he said. The association viewed the midnight deadline a dampener in hotels' plan to attract more customers for the events.

"The deadline should be extended till 2 a.m. on weekends and 1 a.m. on weekdays," Mr Veer Vijay said. He also asked the Government to emulate other States, which charged no duty on imported liquor. "Many States have implemented this, following Centre's decision to make it totally duty-free."

"Further to the lengthy process of getting various licences, we need to get police permission for every event that involves loud speakers, tickets, advertisements and exhibitions. This makes the process very cumbersome. We appeal to the Government to do away with the practice and make the police more friendly," the association said.

It found the attitude of airport taxi union unreasonable. "It (the union) is still insisting some large hotels to take their taxis only even though they are not well-maintained and drivers are not smartly turned out. The guests coming to the State must have the right to choose the cars. They should not be forced on this," it observed.

Power being an important input for hotels, the association asked the Government not to levy charges at commercial rates. "Hotels have been given the status of an industry, but the power tariff is not on those lines," Mr Veer Vijay said.

The association also called for exempting diplomats from paying taxes. "Government of India and all other States have exempted diplomats from paying taxes, but Andhra Pradesh insists that they pay taxes," he said.

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