Documentation Update-June 2002 - Equitable Tourism Options

Hit by the 60% foreign booking cancellations for October, ITOC is hooking atspeciaL affordable packages from October to lure the domestic tourist. There areseparate packages for students and senior citizens and Kovalam Ayurvedicvacations. A plan, has been "almost finalised", for a special railway informationand reservation counter for confirmed reservations and packages and a linkagebetween duty-free shop purchases and a 25 per cent discount at ITOC restaurants.In this venture with OTTOC, ITOC will offer special room rates to OTTOC fromOctober to March. The two sides hope this venture, the first of several, will bebeneficial to both of them. (JTDC tllntS to domestic tourists to recoup losses, TOI. M,1/1 0/01)ITOC, which is looking for new areas of interest, now that all its hotels have beenlined up for Disinvestment, is planning to open fast food centres at petrol pumpsand is working on one such agreement with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited(BPCL). (ITDC plal1s fast food outlets at BPCL petrol pumps, Amiti Sen, FE, 12/10/01)Adopting an aggressive marketing strategy to promote duty-free shops, ITOC hasreduced prices of a number of products sold at the shops and has asked itsmarketing team to propose more price cut if required. ITDC has duty-free-shopsat Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta and Thiruvananthapuram airports. It is alsoworking on opening new shops at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Calicut,Goa and Varanasi Airports. The duty-free shops earned a profit of about Rs 90 crin 2000-01 and Rs 83.5 cr during 1999-2000. After the disinvestments of all ITDChotels, the duty-free shops would be the main revenue earner for the corporation.(ITDC lowers prices to promote du ty-free SllOPS, Amiti Sen, FE, 16/10/01)The Union Tourism Minister has asked ITDC hotels, to stop ComplimentaryMembership of the Hotel Health Clubs and Swimming Pools and refuse any oralrequests from Departments for Meals and Parties. In addition, he has also orderedmoney to be recovered from ITDC officers staying in hotels without anyentitlement. If all dues were recovered ITDC would be richer by Rs 21-cr. (!TDCtold to stop givillg free meals, Challdrika Mago, TOI, D, 6/1 1/01)ITOC and Central Cottage Industries Corporation ltd. (CCIq signed a MoU formutual collaboration in the promotion and sale 'of products and services in NewDelhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. The MoU will see ccre displayand sell items at the Ashok Travels and Tours (ATT) counters at ITDC hotels, toenable the guests to take back Indian souvenirs. Apart from this, local sightseeingtours offered by ATT will terminate at CCIC emporiums various cities. As areciprocal arrangement, ccre will provide counter space in ITDC in the lobby ofCottage Industries Emporium. With this MoU, tourists will now be able to makeATT bookings through CCIC showroom and also make hotel reservations througha computerised network. ([TDe, CCIC sig1l MoU for sales promotion, BL, 23/11/01)Given the uncerta inty surrounding the disinvestments of 26 of its hotels, ITOC istrying to cut its losses, looking to convert its divisions into business units andseeking a foothold in new areas of business. It is going to State Governments withoffers to take up projects, trying to get into Event Management, private hotels, itis seeking a toehold in the construction business, looking at food plazas on railwaystations, motels and fast food joints at petrol pumps and even joint ventures inrestaurants abroad.ACCESS- Ashok Conferences, Conventions, Events and Support Services - is anew event management group which will handle projects ranging from conferences13