Tag Archives: Chairman & Managing Director

M.P. Purushothaman, Chairman & Managing Director, Empee Group, has been named as the DDP Trailblazer at the South India Travel Awards in Kochi. He forayed into the industry with a three star hotel. Thanks to his vision, today he is at the helm of a conglomerate that includes sugar, hospitality, property, power, and packaging across South India. He has been the President of Federation of Hotels & Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI), for three terms and has also been the President of the Tamil Nadu Hotels & Restaurants Association for 18 long years, and President of South India Hotels & Restaurants Association for 10 years. It was under his leadership that FHRAI had set up a world-class institute for hotel management in 2016.

Lords Hotels & Resorts has announced the signup of its fourth hotel property in Nepal. With 105 keys, the premium resort property will be named Lords Resort Budhanilkantha because of its proximity to the sacred temple. It is slated to commence operations by the end of 2017. This would become Lords Hotels & Resorts’ second hospitality offering in Kathmandu with Mirage Lords Inn being its first. Besides these two, the hotel chain has signed up two other hotel properties in Birjung and in Bhaktapur which too will shortly open to tourists. With four properties, Lords Hotels & Resorts will become the leading Indian hospitality brand in the paradise tourist destination of Nepal. “We are pleased to announce the launch of Lords Resorts Budhanilkantha and are positive that this will become a landmark resort in Kathmandu. Built on a vantage point, it is away from the hustle bustle of the city. Access to the city, however, is unrestricted and convenient. Being located at the top of a hill, skirted by dense flora, every room will offer a magnificent view of the valley and its fauna. Besides offering an unparalleled location advantage, the resort will also cater to travelers across the spectrum from leisure to adventure and business to pilgrimage,” says P.R. Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director, Lords Hotels & Resorts.

Royal Orchid Hotels Limited has approved an interim dividend of 10 per cent. The dividend will result in payout of Rs 3.19 crore (including dividend distribution tax). The record date for dividend payment is March 1, 2017. Commenting on the dividend results Chander Baljee, Chairman & Managing Director said, “After a gap of six years, the company has decided to declare a dividend to its shareholders. The dividend payout shows improved financial performance in the current financial year and we are optimistic of improved financial performance in the last quarter and the next financial year.” The company had reported net profit of Rs 4.23 crore for the third quarter ended December 2016 compared to net profit of Rs 2.01 crore in December 2015. In the first nine months of the current financial year, Royal Orchid Hotels has reported net profit of Rs 6.47 crore.

World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative (WTTCII) has appointed Ashwani Lohani, Chairman & Managing Director, Air India, as its Chairman for the year 2017. Lohani, who served as the Vice Chairman of WTTCII for the year 2016, takes over from Kapil Chopra, President, The Oberoi Group, who completed his term at the recently held AGM in Delhi. Sunder G. Advani, Chairman & Managing Director, Advani Hotels & Resorts (India) Limited, has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of WTTCII for the year 2017. This was announced at the Annual General Meeting of the World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative (WTTCII) held on 12 December 2016 at New Delhi. Lohani said, “Over the years, WTTCII has been championing convergence between Government of India and States to facilitate tourism in India and we will continue to do so. With the GST in place by next year, the States will have the major onus of implementing smart policies for facilitating tourism on the ground. We will continue to work with the States, with the strength of our Members, to improve access, address infrastructural gaps and policy bottlenecks for tourism to flourish, and most importantly create jobs, employment and provide a vigorous boost to tourism’s contribution to the State’s GDP. The sub sectors of Aviation, Hospitality, Transportation, Railway compliments each other. In a country like India, all the subs sectors of tourism need to be integrated and treated uniformly by the Government in its various policy initiatives to give it a competitive edge vis-à-vis other countries.” Advani said, “We welcome the ground breaking move by Government of India introducing E-visa policy for 158 countries at 16 Airports and 5 Cruise Ports. These …

E.M. Najeeb, Chairman, IATO Southern Region, and Chairman & Managing Director, Air Travel Enterprises Group of Companies (ATE), says the decision has badly hit tourists today as thousands of tourists who are in India cannot pay in restaurants, do shopping, or pay for local purchases. “Apart from the stay, which is pre-paid, they can’t do anything else with the foreign exchange they have already taken. People are facing great hardships, queuing up at petrol pumps, there was not enough change at railway stations despite them accepting the 500 and 1000 bills. The government’s step to curtail black money is much appreciated, but I think it should have been better managed and the steps taken by the government shouldn’t have affected the normal people so much. We also have our hospitals and since the concession of accepting the larger denominations is only in government hospitals, private hospitals like us had to treat people for free.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has launched a new logo with a tagline “The Way Forward” at The Ashok New Delhi. The new TAFI logo was unveiled by Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism Govt. of India along with Dr. A.K. Manocha, Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC, in the presence of TAFI President Praveen Chugh, TAFI Immediate Past President Zakkir Ahmed, Vice President Pradip Lulla, National General Secretary Aditi Bhende, Managing Committee Member and Convention Chairman Bharat Shah and Managing Committee member Teddy Thomas among others.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) celebrated the completion of 50 years at a gala event at The Ashok, New Delhi. The event was graced by the presence of Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Umang Narula, Chairman & Managing Director, ITDC. The who’s who of the travel and hospitality industry joined the celebrations and raised a toast to ITDC.

Indian real estate developer, the Embassy Group has signed a management agreement with Hilton for its second hospitality project – a 586-room dual-branded hotel within the Embassy Manyata Business Park that features a Hilton Hotels & Resorts and a Hilton Garden Inn brand hotel. This is poised to be one of the largest dual-branded hotels in India. It will be developed and owned by the Embassy Group and managed by Hilton. The hotel’s plan and design are in an advance stage of finalisation, targeted to start construction by 2017 and to be completed by 2020. The hotel will be part of a mixed-use development which will also house a Food and Beverage hub and two commercial towers. The entire complex will sport an iconic design by the Singapore based Andy Fisher Workshop. The dual-branded hotel will comprise 586 rooms in total, with 250 rooms at the Hilton and 336 rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn. It will also feature 46,000 sq. ft. of flexible Meetings and Events space that accommodates up to 1500 people. Talking about the signing, Jitu Virwani, Chairman & Managing Director, Embassy Group, said, “We are delighted to expand and strengthen our partnership with Hilton. Our first hospitality project with Hilton at Embassy GolfLinks has been a great success and we are looking forward to extending our partnership to newer heights.” Commenting on the development, Sartaj Singh, President, Embassy Hospitality, said “Partnering with Hilton in the development of two more hotels is part of an ongoing, consistent business strategy around the hospitality business. Hilton is a global leader in the hospitality sector and it is reputed for its remarkable service and attention to detail. We also plan …

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), the public sector undertaking under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism, recorded net profit before tax of Rs.32.42 crore during 2015-16, profit after tax of Rs.22.55 crore and a total turnover of Rs.465.69 crore during the financial year 2015-16. The information was revealed during the Group’s 51st Annual General Meeting at the Group’s hotel, The Samrat, New Delhi. The highlights of the AGM was the declaration of a dividend of 15 per cent amounting to Rs.12.86 crore approximately as recommended by the Board in the meeting held on May 30, 2016. Out of Rs. 12.86 crore, an approximate amount of Rs.11.20 crore will go to the Government of India. The meeting was chaired by Umang Narula, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director, ITDC. The overall occupancy during 2015-16 was 52 per cent as against 47 per cent during 2014-15 with flagship Hotel ‘The Ashok’ recording occupancy of 54 per cent during 2015-16.

Air India commenced the first ever flight between Ahmedabad and Newark via London. The Flight AI 171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The flight is receiving immense response from the passengers and not only inaugural flight but all bookings till September 16 are sold out. The first passenger to check in was handed the boarding pass by Chief Guest, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue, Education (Primary, Secondary and Adult), Higher and Technical Education, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs, Govt of Gujarat. The B787 flight to Newark will be the first commercial operation of the aircraft to the US from India. It will meet a long standing need and demand of more than 6 lakh Indians in Ahmedabad and expatriates in Newark and neighboring cities as well as off locals visiting the Indian sub-continent, who have been looking for seamless connections for work and leisure travel to Newark and London. AI-171 will operate three days a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. It will take off from Ahmedabad at 05:00 hrs and reach London at 10:15 hrs, depart from London at 12:30 hrs and arrive at Newark at 15:00 hrs. The return flight AI172 will leave Newark at 22:30 hrs and reach London at 10:15 hrs next day, leave London at 12:30 hrs and land at Ahmedabad at 02:00 hrs. Speaking on the occasion, Ashwani Lohani, Chairman & Managing Director, said, ‘’Air India is happy to start this new flight on August 15, 2016. It is a dream fulfilled for the people of Ahmedabad on India’s 70th Independence day. This is the third international flight introduced by Air India and we shall be …