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The Ladakh administration has decided to grant industry status to hotels and guest houses registered with the tourism department in a move aimed at strengthening the hospitality sector and boosting tourism-led economic growth, officials said. Lt Governor VK Saxena on Wednesday approved the grant of 'Industry' status to registered hotels and guest houses in the Union territory, they said. The decision, which will come into effect from June 1, 2026, is expected to provide a substantial fillip to tourism establishments through incentives, concessional utility tariffs and easier access to institutional finance, they said. Officials said hotels and guest houses would now be eligible for electricity and water tariffs at industrial rates, which are lower than the commercial rates which are currently applicable to such establishments. They would also qualify for concessional bank loans under various state and central government industrial policies besides exemption from property tax, they
Radisson Hotel Group expects to scale up its India portfolio to 157-160 operational hotels and 19,000-19,500 keys by December 2026, driven by a steady pipeline and continued expansion across markets, a top company executive said. Nikhil Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, South Asia, told PTI that the Group remains "very much on track" to achieve its target of 500 hotels in India by 2030. "We are at 17,000 keys in operation currently. With 18 more hotels set to open this year, we are adding between 2,000 and 2,500 keys," Sharma said. The global hospitality chain operates 142 hotels in India and has 84 more under development, reflecting a strong pipeline towards medium-term visibility. On the demand environment, Sharma pointed to a mixed impact from the ongoing West Asia crisis, particularly across key urban markets in the country. "We saw a slowdown in some metro cities, but tier-2 and tier-3 cities did not witness a large slowdown," he said. However, March saw