Bihar to put major emphasis on star hotels

Given the increasing foreign tourist inflow in Bihar, the state government has now decided to put major emphasis on the construction of star hotels. It has also decided to upgrade six of its own hotels into star category.

"The influx of tourists in the state in on rise," Mihir Kumar Singh, Tourism Secretary of the state government, told Business Standard, "we received more than 1.1 million foreign and 22 million domestic tourists last year. This year, the number will be more. However, we still lack star category hotels in the state. Due to this, we are unable to retain majority of tourists. Therefore, we have decided to put more focus on construction and upgradation of such hotels." The state government has now working on the rules and regulations to recognize hotels into star category.

"Ministry of Tourism has declared a specific set of standards on which a hospitality establishment can be recognized into star category. However, the applications in this regard are first needed to be examined by the state level gradation committee. Earlier we lacked such a committee, but we are in process of correcting our mistake. Within a month this committee will be constituted and we will begin the recognition work," said the official. After this any hotel in the state can apply for the star category. The state government feels that it will further improve tourism infrastructure and hence increase the influx of tourists in the state.

The state government has also decided to upgrade some of its own hotels into star category. It has earmarked six of Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation's (BSTDC) hotels under its ambitious plan. The state government has decided to improve facilities at Kautilya Vihar (Patna), Vishnu Vihar (Gaya), Siddhartha Vihar (Bodh Gaya), Tathagat Vihar (Rajgir), Laxmi Vihar (Muzaffarpur) and Kaimur Vihar (Mohania), so that they can get star category. "We desperately need star category hotels in the state," said a senior official of the state government, "therefore we have decided to improve facilities at these hotels. We are aiming for a 4 star rating for our Vishnu Vihar hotel at Gaya as majority of international tourists head there. We are aiming for 2-3 star rating for the rest of the earmarked hotels."

Within last few years, Bihar has emerged as a major tourist attraction. Today one out of every six foreign tourists in the country comes to Bihar. The increase in arrivals of international travelers in the state is rising at an impressive rate of 10 percent per annum.