The Hindu Business Line : Best hotel tag for ‘Udailvilas’ a boost to tourism

Kolkata, July 21 The brand image of The Oberoi Group, with hotels and resorts in countries such as Indonesia, Egypt, Australia and Mauritius, has gone up a few notches with The Oberoi Udaivilas being ranked as the ‘Best Hotel in the World’ by the Travel & Leisure magazine readers worldwide.

Talking to Business Line here on the award, and what it may do for the Indian hospitality sector as a whole in the medium-term, Mr S.S. Mukherjee, Vice-Chairman and MD of EIH Ltd, said it was a positive development for attracting th e international traveller to India. He said the award has come at a time when occupancy levels by and large were picking up, and this augured well for our sector in the following quarters.

Critical Parameters

He said while the Group Hotels (in Rajasthan) in the past have received accolades from respected travel publications like Gallivanter’s Guide, being rated as the best in the world was highly satisfying, particularly when rank ed among top hotels of the world on critical parameters such as accommodation, service and location.

Oberoi Udailvilas, with a top score of 94.36, was closely followed by Singita Sabi Sand at Kruger National Park, South Africa (94.30) and The Oriental at Bangkok (94.23). Mr Mukherjee said two other Oberoi Group hotels – Amarvilas, Agra and Rajvilas, Jaipur, with scroes of 92.56 and 92.50 respectively have been ranked 10 and 11 in the list of top 20.

Stronger Rupee

Pointing out that business travel (international, in particular) actually drives such hotels worldwide, he expected good times for the Indian hospitality sector at least for the next 2-3 years, what with a sustained above 8 per cent growth and a stronger Rupee.

Admitting that in terms of dollar earnings, a stronger Rupee did prove to be a drag, Mr Mukherjee said “the future definitely looks better, particularly for tourism prospects in the country.”

On the Group itself, he said the business of both hotels and flight kitchens have witnessed tremendous growth, indicative of even better times to come. He felt the modernisation of Indian airports, particularly the international airports in metro cities, offered big scope for the Oberoi Group to seek more airport hotels and lounge projects, in which they already enjoy a niche.

Mr Mukherjee said the Group, already working on the Bangalore International Airport Hotel project, in collaboration (74:26) with L&T through a joint venture, was also looking at other airport hotel projects in Hyderabad and Chennai.

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Best hotel tag for ‘Udailvilas’ a boost to tourism