Gujarat to sell TCGL's loss-making hotels

In a bid to turnaround the loss making Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL), the state government has decided to sell off some of the corporations loss making hotels.

The corporation also has plans to be in black by the end of the current financial year, through enhanced budgetary support and various marketing initiatives.

The corporation has reported a loss of around Rs 2.99 crore by the end of the last financial year. The state government has already enhanced its budgetary allocation to Rs 35 crore for the tourism sector to revive the corporation.

"The main role corporation would be tourism promotion in the state and not to be in the business of tourism. We have already made over three-fold increase in the budgetary allocation for the tourism sector and would provide funds for marketing and promotional activities as and when required," Anil Patel, state minister for industry and tourism told Business Standard.

"We are also actively considering privatising of a few of the loss making properties (hotels) of the corporation. We have already invited expression of interest for some of these properties and are in process of receiving enquiries from the private parties," he added.

TCGL's Saputara is the only profit making hotel of the corporation, which recorded a profit of Rs 36 lakh in 2003-2004.

"This year we have lined up mega promotional activities to place Gujarat in the international tourism map. We are in the process of tying up with a few of the international and domestic airlines as part of our promotional activities," C V Som, managing director, TCGL.

"For the domestic market, we would advertise in regional languages... Bengali for West Bengal, Marathi for Maharastra and Malayalam for Kerala."

In a bid to attract international tourist, the corporation is planning to introduce a digital tourism guide. The system will a tourist to select a tour packages and book them through internet from any part of the world. The corporation is also planning to revive its website.

"In the domestic front, the corporation has lined up mega promotional tour packages and will be providing a 20 per cent discount on these packages for senior citizens, handicapped persons and children. The corporation is in process of tying up with various travel agents across the country to market these packages," said Rajbir Singh, joint managing director of TCGL.

Of the Rs 35 crore tourism budget, over Rs 10 crore would be used for developing and reviving the infrastructure. Another Rs 10 crore would be used for various marketing and promotional activities and for organising fairs such as Tarnetar.

Similarly, Rs 10 crore would be used for organising festivals such as Navratri Mahotsav, International Kite Festival and Kutch Utsav.