ITDC focuses on engaging agents

Umang Narula IAS, Chairman & Managing Director, India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (ITDC) tells about ITDC’s plan to engage the travel agents to encourage them to get their market share.

How is ITDC doing since you came on board?

ITDC has done very well financially in the last year. We

` recorded a profit of 38.95 crores before tax and that’s the highest profit we’ve had in the last eight years. We are also trying to upgrade out properties wherever required, optimise our revenue streams from the properties and also strengthen the other verticals we are in, besides the hotels.Occupancy also went up last year. We had a very positive response in our flagship hotel— The Ashok. That’s the main engine of our ITDC Group.

Has competition increased, especially where ARR’s are concerned?

Yes there has been a lot of pressure on ARR’s in the first six months, but we are in the season now so let’s see how things pan out. What we have seen is that in the first 6-8 months the outside hotels have done much better. They have compensated for the off-season in Delhi, whether it is Patna or Jaipur.

What about the involvement of travel agents?

We do have travel agents booking with us, but that is one area where we are trying to increase their share in our bookings. Their share has been stagnating so that is one area we are really focusing on. We will engage the travel agents and do whatever is possible to encourage them to get our market share.

ITDC is also involved in education. Tell us about it.

For hospitality education, we have tied up with the National Council of Hotel Management and opened an institute called the Centre of Excellence (CoE) which is embedded in Samrat Hotel. So the students that come to do this course actually work within the precincts of a functioning hotel and learn-on-the-job.

It is a new kind of step, there are very few institutes that are working from within a hotel. There is an All India examination conducted by the National Council of Hotel Management and those students who qualify then opt for the CoE institute. We have a good mix of students.

What are the green initiatives being taken by ITDC hotels?

We are always working towards that, we have solar heating plants, we are also working on a solar power plant for the Ashok and Samrat complex. It will not meet the entire requirement but it will feed into the power grid of the hotels. We also have our ETP and waste treatment plants. Another step we are taking is that we are going to apply for LEED certification.

What do you have to say about the escalating taxes?

We would also benefit if taxes were rationalised. We are in the same boat as all the other hotels. Anything that encourages better occupancy is always welcome.

Tell us about other activities being undertaken at ITDC to diversify.

We are also doing promotional activities like Sound and Light shows. We did one in Andaman & Nicobar, which was really appreciated. We also did one in Orissa and we have others in the pipeline, like one on Dal Lake in Srinagar, which is a very beautiful area. It may not be very profitable but it’s very encouraging and helps the tourism industry at large. We are getting help from the ministry to finance these projects and we only execute them. The user agencies are the state tourism departments. So, we put everything in place and then hand it to the state government or to a special entity that has got this project done by us.