Tourism Ministry suggests reduced tariff rates to hoteliers to make India an affordable destination
	17:12 IST

The Government has suggested hoteliers to slash room tariffs by 10 to 15% to meet the challenges posed by the global economic meltdown in the tourism sector in India. The suggestion was conveyed by the Secretary Union Ministry of Tourism Shri Sujit Banerjee to the members of the Federation of Hotels & Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI) when they called on him here today. The meeting was organised to assess the impact of global meltdown in the tourism sector in India at the direction of the Tourism & Culture Minister Smt. Ambika Soni. Some more meetings with stake holders in the tourism sector are slated in next few days. The five member FHRAI delegation comprised of Shri Vivek Nair, Vice Chairman, Leela Group; Shri Rajindra Kumar, Hotel Taj Ambassador, Delhi; Shri Salim Sherwani, Sherwani Hospitalities Ltd; Dr.Sunil Gulati, Uttarakhand Hospitality and Major Harish Sud, Secretary General, FHRAI. The delegation conveyed to the government that they will consider the guidance given by the Secretary, Ministry of Tourism regarding room tariffs and formulate their response as soon as possible. The FHRAI delegation also apprised the Secretary(Tourism) about some of their outstanding demands such as infrastructure status for hotels, delinking of hotels from real estate, external commercial borrowings and the problem of Floor Area Ratio (F.A.R.) that has been extended by the Ministry of Urban Development to the Hoteliers in Delhi at what they called very high development charges. They also wanted the hotels in Lutyens zone in New Delhi to be considered for a higher F.A.R. They also demanded single window clearance for the construction activity in hotel industry. The Secretary, Ministry of Tourism assured the delegation that his ministry will extend all possible assistance to the hotel industry for safeguarding its interest and its growth in the country. ***** AD/SL