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NT Bureau
Chennai, Sept 23:

        The country has emerged as the third fastest growing tourism economy in the world with an annual growth of eight per cent against the world growth of 4.2 per cent, said president of South India Hotels & Restaurants Association (SIHRA) M P Purushothaman.

        He was addressing a gathering at 56th annual general meeting here yesterday. Purushothaman said that the tourist arrivals to the country had grown by 13 per cent in 2006 to over four million visitors with a foreign exchange earnings of over Rs 30,000 crore. The Ministry of Tourism had increased allotments in annual tourism outlay. With the success of 'Incredible India' campaign, India would be able to sustain the remarkable growth both in tourism and hospitality industries in the coming years, he said.

        He further said that Union Tourism Ministry has approved 133 hotels, which would be established in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry and Tamilnadu. Out of these 133 hotels, Karnataka would have 30, Kerala 61, Andhra Pradesh 20, Tamilnadu 18 and Pondicherry four, he added.

        Purushothaman also said that a large buoyancy in hotel occupancy was witnessed in 2006 and that this was due to increase in tourist arrivals as well as the establishment of new manufacturing units in auto, auto ancillary, IT, ITES, garment and leather industries. He further said that while Andhra Pradesh was auctioning land and Pondicherry was providing subsidy to hoteliers, Tamilnadu and Karnataka offered no such benefits.

        Though hospitality industry was a large power consumer under the commercial status it is paying Rs 6.10 per unit while industry was paying a lower amount of Rs 2.85 per unit, said Purushothaman while detailing on the problems faced by hospitality industry.