Hotel industry yet to recover from recession

   VISAKHAPATNAM: The hotel industry in Visakhapatnam is in doldrums.Though the government announced several programmes to boost tourism sector in the region, the number of tourists visiting the city has drastically plummeted.The majority of hotels are on the lookout for bulk bookings.They mostly depend on special events like food festivals and small gatherings to break even.Despite Visakhapatnam being identified as one of the fastest growing cities in Asia and government coming out with several incentives to attract investments in the industrial and IT sectors, political unrest, agitations, delay in government clearances and lack of basic infrastructure are driving investors away from the region.Hoteliers in the city said all hotels crossed 87 percent occupancy rate in 2007-2008 before the recession hit.But the bookings took a severe beating post-recession, they lamented.Prior to recession, plans to set up Special Economic Zones (SEZ), mega expansion works of various PSUs and various developments in the areas of medicine and education were on the anvil in 2006-07.The government had also alloted thousands of acres of lands to the investors.“However, after YS Rajasekhara Reddy's demise, the government plans and priorities have changed.Although water, power and human resources are available besides land to set up new industries, unless there is political stability and will, no investor will be interested in coming here,” said a senior revenue official.