Floatel to sail to Mumbai?

The management of The Floatel, a floating hotel on the banks of Hooghly river , has been approached by the Maharashtra government to set up a similar venture to be anchored in Mumbai said Manab Pal, managing director, Manor Floatel Ltd." After seeing our hotel in Kolkata, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation ( MTDC) has approached us to set up a similar project which will be anchored on the side of the Arabian Sea," he said. The Maharashtra government wants to participate in the project on a profit-sharing basis."We have identified Cafe Parade, Bandra and Worli as the potential sites," said Pal.

Earlier also the management got a similar proposal from MTDC, but according to Pal, the plan didn't succeed due to techno-economic hurdles.

When asked about this Pal said, "Due to unplanned urban settlements and unabated reclamation of land, the shoreline in Mumbai suffers from tremendous corrosion, so we decided that it was technically impossible to set up a floating hotel there."

He added that they were now equipped with better expertise and hence the project will succeed.

But, he refused to share any outline about the project saying that it was still in planning stage.

Floatel which was set up in 2004 had is the only such hotel in India.. Saying that the recession had an impact on their business, Pal said that despite this they have an occupancy rate of about 80 percent. " Earlier we had a 95 percent occupancy rate during the festive season, but it has reduced as people have cut down on their leisure travel." he noted.

Hospitality experts have questioned the economic viability of a floating hotel. A report by HVS India says that floating hotels solely depend on leisure travel and goes against the principle of hotel business which depends on a mix clientele.Pal though is optimistic. " We earned a revenue of Rs 2.2 crore in the first year of our operation, and it has increased to Rs 10.5 crore in the last financial year," he said.

He also expected that with the central government's project to develop the riverfront of Ganga, ventures like Floatel will be a part of that plan.