Carlson Rezidor, one of the world's largest hotel groups, has drawn up an aggressive expansion plan in India with the goal of doubling its portfolio size by the year 2020, focusing on the growing middle class in key emerging markets.
"At present, we have 63 hotels open and over 40 are under development. Our goal is to double our portfolio size by 2020," Carlson Rezidor Chief Executive Officer Raj Rana said.
Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and Bestech will invest $42 million in a joint venture to develop the first two hotels, Park Inn by Radisson, at Gurgaon and Mohali.
"We will be introducing a new generation of Park Inn by Radisson, developed with a strong focus on the growing middle class in key emerging markets," Carlson Rezidor Chairman (South Asia) K B Kachru told PTI.
Carlson has been focusing on India as a high potential growth area.
"Our focus is not only on metro cities but also in state capitals. We are into more state capitals already, but we want to get into secondary and tertiary cities as we see the emerging middle class and corporations move into these cities," Kachru said.
"And, with connectivity improving, we are quite confident that we have a role to play and take advantage of these markets. That's our growth strategy," they said.
Raj Rana, however, lamented that tourism infrastructure or focus in India was "still far from where it should be".
"Take for instance, hotel construction...The number of permits that are required from any state government is humongous...It's very burdensome. If we can unshackle and free up the speed of permits or approvals that can help promote India as a destination...Quicker," he said.
Though the economic slowdown has been causing problems in the short term for the hospitality sector as well, it would be bullish in the long term, they said.
