Enjoy a specially designed array of therapies that start with a rainforest mud wrap and a head massage, followed by a popular aroma fusion massage using rose oil, which helps to calm, relax and uplift the mind. The journey of this summer package ends with the mini-hydrating facial using cooling green apple and aloe vera gel all in the comfort of a luxury hotel in Goa.

Quan Spa, a world-renowned brand that promises a whole new world of spa & wellness treatments, is an integral part of the new Goa Marriott Resort & Spa. Quan, a Chinese word that literally means ‘a source of pure water’ represents a spa that seeks to provide a path to wholeness and well-being, while embracing the time-honored healing practices of its local culture. The Quan Spa has well-appointed five treatment rooms including a couples massage room as well, besides a steam room and a Jacuzzi. There is also a brand new Fitness Centre (gymnasium) and a Kids Club as part of the recreational facilities.

Go ahead and pamper yourself this summer with the exclusive Rehydrate package at the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa. Take advantage of our hotel packages in Goa before time runs out!

Experience India, the hot destination of 2012, with an exclusive offer. With the You Play, We Pay offer, guests can earn up to INR 3000 for their 2 night stay at any Marriott in India. See the Taj Mahal, relax on the luxurious beaches of Goa, or go camel trekking in the Great Indian Desert. The options are unlimited, with Marriott’s 14 Indian hotels! For more information visit You Play, We Pay at Marriott.com.

ABOUT Goa Marriott Resort & Spa With a stunning sea-view and glorious sunsets, the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa is the ideal destination for a stay in the land of sun & sand. Located at the edge of the Miramar Beach, it is perfect for a truly relaxing vacation. This charming luxury resort is one of the finest five star hotels in Goa for business and for leisure. Besides an exciting mix of fine dining, leisure activities and comprehensive business facilities, the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa also provides easy access to bustling Panaji, the capital city of Goa, rich in its history and cultural heritage.

“We are currently looking out for locations that suits our needs. We want to establish our presence here as we believe in the future of India and its tourism industry,” Peter Borer, chief operating officer, The Peninsula Hotels, told IANS last week.

Borer said the group was searching for centrally-located properties in both Delhi and Mumbai.

“The most important thing is the location. We are looking for central and prime locations.”

Borer refused to disclose the amount of investment to start the India operations.

“We believe in the long term. We are long-term investors and not short-term investors. Every property of ours has a different amount of investment.”

Asked whether the company would go in for a direct property purchase, or develop the hotel from ground zero, Borer said: “This will depend on the location factor.” The company said whenever it will enter the Indian market, it will customise its services to suit the local needs.

Tweaking the concept

“Our whole concept of luxury, large rooms would remain the same. But we will tweak the concept a bit after studying the market situation.”

Currently, the company operates nine luxury hotels in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, New York, Chicago, Beverly Hills, Bangkok and Manila.

The company will start operations in Paris in 2013. It is looking for properties in London.

Chief of the Army Staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said on Wednesday that Pakistan followed the doctrine of peaceful coexistence with its neighbors, especially India. “We want peaceful co-existence with India as amicable neighbors; however, our desire should not be misconstrued as weakness,” the COAS remarked.

Talking to media, after reviewing the search operation that is underway to unearth
the 139 martyred troops in the Gayari sector who aer buried under tons of snow, the COAS said Pakistan was open to talks with India to de-militarize Siachen.

He said, “Both countries should sit together to resolve all the issues including Siachen.” He said the reason why was the Pakistan Army was on the Siachen was not a secret to the world. “It [was] Indians who carried the war onto Siahcen, forcing us to get up there and stop them in their tracks; we only mounted a natural tactical response,” Gen. Kayani said.

COAS also made it clear that the army was protecting the country’s borders on Siachen. “We are only manning the border on this frigid outpost in the line of duty.”

“Siachen consumes a mammoth amount of national exchequer, which must be diverted to the people of both countries respectively,” General Kayani said. The country’s armed forces do not want more spending on defense due to disputes.

On the Gyari rescue operation, he said, “We are trying to reach the bodies of the martyrs with all we are worth in the face of inclement weather; no stone has been left unturned, we are not far from them now.”

The statement of the Pakistan Chief of Army has born a hope for the possibility that at last sanity may prevail and both countries may withdraw forces from Siachen Glacier and make it a Peace Park – a very old demand of peace lovers of both countries. Both countries lost more than 3,000 young soldiers and millions if not billions of US dollars on this pointless and some say useless war. Retired generals from both of the countries believe that the Siachen issue is one of the easiest to solve, but it is hostage to general mistrust and hard-liners on both sides who don’t want to give up their claim on the territory.

The Siachen war is being considered an ego problem between the two armies, instead of a tactical or operational problem. The region is just east of the world’s second-highest peak, K-2, which has killed far more than artillery fire, due to its temperatures as low as -60 C, vicious winds, and altitude sickness. Casualty figures have not been released by either military, because both are sending very young soldiers that they call “Green Soldiers,” because the environment and weather is so unfriendly, that only young boys can survive there.

Analysts say resolving Siachen should be possible before the much more difficult dispute over Kashmir is attempted. Because no one lives in the region and it is of no strategic value, a joint or even unilateral withdrawal from one side could break the logjam.

In a survey and interviews conducted by eTN to know the viewpoint of the general public, experts, academia, and former personnel of the Pakistan Army, it was understood that majority of all wish to complete demilitarization of the Siachen Glacier and make it a tourism spot and Peace Park to promote harmony in the region.

These people were of the view that that Indian development in the trade sector was marvelous and Pakistan needed to worry about its economy.

India could afford the boarding and lodging of its army at Siachen, but it was hard for Pakistan to sustain its presence in the region, and both countries should solve the issue, and the billions of US dollars being spent on the war should be directed towards people’s prosperity.

Prof. Hassan Askari Rizvi, who is one of the most important experts of regional studies, was of the view that said deployment of troops at Siachen was wastage of money and resources. He said that the issue started in 1984, and later it became a matter of ego and pride for India and Pakistan. The professor said the ceasefire line was demarked and it ended exactly near Siachen, making the area a disputed territory.

Other international chains entering India such as Swiss International too are concentrating on domestic travelers for the bulk of their business.

Nakul Anand, executive director of ITC, and in-charge of its hotel business, however, forecasts domestic leisure travel to take off. “With travel agents marketing a wider range of holiday packages to different parts of India, domestic tourist traffic has picked up,” he says. Anand estimates that pure leisure traffic accounts for barely one per cent of demand for domestic travel in India, primarily made up by destinations such as Goa.

However, tariffs for hotels may not come down in the near future as land cost as a proportion of the total development cost in India stands at 40 per cent versus 20-25 per cent on an average in global markets.

Last year, HVS, the hospitality consulting firm, ranked Maharashtra, Goa, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the top five states having a supportive environment for hotels to operate in. Karnataka increased its budgetary provision for travel and tourism from 0.03 per cent to 0.22 per cent HVS said in the study. Maharashtra, Delhi and Goa score high by virtue of being key commercial and leisure destinations in the country that have the necessary infrastructure and tourist arrivals to support hotel operations, added the consultancy.

Speaking at the fifth edition of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) on Sunday, Sahai said: “Currently, we have about 5.7 million foreign tourists visiting every year, and we want to have another 5 million tourists. We want to double that number in the current Five Year Plan.”

Seeking help from the hospitality industry to cater to the increased number of foreign tourists, the minister said: “We need at least 20 million hotel rooms to accommodate the tourists.”

According to ‘Herald Sun’ report, the latest radical reshaping of Australian tourist and business travel has put India at 10th most visited destination with 17,400 visits a month which was mere 4,000 tourists ten years ago.

Country’s Bureau of Statistics figures have disclosed that in February this year more Australians visited China or India than the conventional UK.

India, Thailand and China are by far our fastest growing destinations with annual growth rates of 15, 14 and 13 per cent respectively.

Australia has 47,000 visitors a month from China (and a further 15,000 from Hong Kong), well in excess of the 40,000 that come from the US and close to the 49,000 who come from Britain. China was on track to replace the UK as the biggest source of visitors to Australia after New Zealand.

According to Tourism minister Martin Ferguson, “New aviation agreements mean there are now 900,000 seats per year between China and Australia, and we are funding businesses to become China-ready through the ‘Welcoming Chinese Visitors Project’.

“The number of Australians visiting India surged by 29 per cent while the Philippines increased by 26 per cent.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee said, Asian destinations like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have been investing in new accommodation and are able to provide high levels of service to visitors.

The audit carried out under supervision of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) by a local chartered accountant firm reports that the financial statement of HPTDC is deficient by Rs 51.67cr, the amount given to the PSU as grants for creating fixed assets. What’s more, registration of land title deeds of many properties had not been finalized since 1972, even though HPTDC was de facto owner of the buildings constructed on them, the report mentions.

Under centrally sponsored schemes, the corporation received Rs 10.49cr in 2010-11 for execution of various projects. On behalf of the HPTDC board, chief minister P K Dhumal as chairman in the director’s report declared a profit of Rs 1.58 crore for the year under consideration, which has been objected to by the auditors Soni and Rustogi.

The audit has pointed out that profits have been overstated by Rs 31.55 lakh as no provision had been made for Rs 13.29 lakh due as leave encashment on account of employees pay revision. The auditors have also objected to the profit entry of Rs 18.26 lakhs that the corporation earned by sale of Hotel Deothsidh.

“In our opinion the sale consideration above the original cost of assets should be shown as capital reserve,” the report says. As the corporation has not maintained a fixed asset register, the auditors were unable to verify profits or loss on disposal of assets. Interestingly, a deficit of Rs 57.63 lakh for operating Himachal Sadan, a prime property in a plush area of Delhi, has been made up from surpluses generated by Himachal Bhawan, Chandigarh.

Sale of 4 buses for Rs 6.17 lakhs that were received from health department in 2004-05 without any consideration have been treated as income. Accounts of golf course at Naldhera have been audited by another firm and incorporated in the corporation accounts, the audit report mentions.

Against an income of Rs 62.62 crore in 2009-10, HPTDC, which operates 57 hotels and 60 restaurants, reported an income of Rs 69.70 crore for 2010-11. However, the expenditure increased substantially from Rs 56.93 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 65.48cr in 2010-11 and subsequently profits declined from Rs 3.08cr to 1.58 crore, the HPTDC board financial statement records. Staff salary was Rs 28.47 crore, while other benefits and perks were Rs 9.23 crore.

Terms and conditions of handing over Hotel Mandav at Mandi to IIT Mandi in 2009-10 had not been settled. Even without considering the huge grants handed out to the corporation on a share capital of Rs 12.30 crore, HPTDC had eroded its value and was running an accumulated debt of Rs 16.94 crore on its books.

Stating that Asia is the growth region of the world with India and China driving a large part of that growth, Anupam Narayan, chairman & Managing Director, Swiss International Hotels & Resorts, South Asia said that as the economy grows, so does business travel and domestic tourism. He pointed out that the hotel rooms here, however, have not kept pace with growth.

“There are more hotel rooms in New York City than there are in all of India. Moreover, the majority of hotels in India are independent hotels and not branded with an international chain,” he said.

“For us, this means that we have many opportunities waiting to be converted,” he added.

The group will be introducing two primary brands, Swiss International Hotels & Resorts and Spirit Hotel, besides one affiliation option for heritage, palace and unique properties.

Swiss International Hotels & Resorts would be a 4/5 star, full service, upscale hotel with about 210 rooms, extensive banquets, executive meeting space, restaurants and other conveniences.

Spirit Hotel will be a 3 star, midscale brand positioned as affordable luxury. It will cater to business and leisure travellers at affordable prices.

“The third option is for boutique hotels, heritage hotels and palaces that want to affiliate with an international brand for the global reservation and marketing presence, but also wants to maintain their name and identity,” Narayan said.

The group is looking to set up 150 hotels in many countries in the next five years.

“The growth in business tourism coupled with the demand for high standards of efficiency, services, values and ethics are on the rise and we are looking at setting up 150 hotels across the world in the next five years,” said Henri Kennedie, Managing Director & CEO, Swiss International Hospitality Commons.

The survey reveals that tourists take over an hour and sometimes one-and-a-half hours at Mumbai airport for their visas though facilities are better at Delhi.

During the survey only 4.55% of the tourists said that the system was absolutely hassle free. Though a majority of tourists were satisfied, most felt that utilities counters needed to be close by. The survey had included even immigration officials who felt that adequate publicity is required for this service and forms should be provided in the flights.

“The survey indicates that we need to work on infrastructure, training and reducing processing time. It also says language and foreign currency are major issues. We have had interactions with the civil aviation ministry and the home ministry, and we have been assured that proper space would be provided for special counters, ” tourism secretary RH Khwaja said.

“Not every tourist carries Indian rupees or US dollars with them. So they have to run between counters to get foreign currency exchanged. They lose a lot of time on that. Some face problems when they go to multiple counters and find the officials on a tea break. All these issues need to be ironed out,” he added.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma took up the visa rejection issue during his meeting with US Commerce Secretary John Bryson here.

“All issues of concern from both the sides were raised, particularly from our side the movement of professionals,” Sharma told reporters after the bilateral meeting.

Bryson, accompanied by representatives from 16 US infrastructure firms and senior government officials, is on a six-day official visit to India. This is Bryson’s first visit to India as commerce secretary.

Sharma said India was concerned over the high rejection of visa application by the US authorities.

“There have been concerns over the high rate of rejection. Last year visas declined by 28 percent. We had a very frank discussion, including some of the issues on which US has concerns,” Sharma said.

The commerce and industry minister said India was concerned over the rejection of visas in both H1B and L1 categories.

H1B is work permit for temporary workers, while L1 visa refers to intra-company transfer. It allows companies to relocate qualified employees to US offices.

Rate of rejection of visa application of Indian professional in L1 category rose to 28 percent in 2011 as compared to 2.8 percent in 2008. There was a sharp increase in rejection in H1B category as well.