Parul Gupta

New Delhi, 23 December

WelcomHeritage, a division of the ITC Hotels which operates palaces, havelis, forts and resorts, is all set to become the first domestic hotel company to foray abroad in the heritage segment.

Besides taking up more properties in some southern states and Gujarat, the company is eyeing some heritage properties in Sri Lanka and Nepal to bring under its umbrella within next two years.

"We are planning to foray abroad in Nepal and Sri Lanka considering their heritage potential.

There is tremendous scope in some southern states and Gujarat as well", WelcomHeritage president Rakesh Mathur said.

He, however, added that none of the properties has been finalised as yet.

Mathur said that though he would like to expand in Tamil Nadu and Kerala too, there are no convertible properties available there.

Some places in Karnataka including Mysore, however, have a couple of heritage properties which can be converted into operational hotels, he said.

The division has 21 properties spread over Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh.

While foreigners have major attraction for these heritage hotels, the division is now focusing on domestic leisure as well as the business travellers. It plans to boost the conferencing facilities to make these properties attractive to the domestic business segment.

Heritage destinations are associated with leisure and are limited to certain time of the year, Mathur said.

"We need to convert the heritage properties in an around-the-year destination and therefore we should convert these into a domestic leisure and business destination", he said. Mathur added that a lot of investment would, however, be required for this purpose.

Mathur said this segmented was directly hit by the September 11 incidents, and would be lucky to see a 5 per cent growth, instead of the projected 15-20 per cent. "After the incident, we have received about 40 per cent cancellations till December," he added.

The division has introduced various packages to promote these properties more attractive. One such package offer is where you stay for three nights at the price of two.

The package is applicable to all the heritage properties and is valid till March, Mathur said. He added that the package is likely to be extended to summer months as well.

It is also planning to emphasise on local heritage, festivals (Vadodara's "graba", camel festival at Bikaner) for promotional purposes.