INDIA’S beach destination Goa will see a doubling of its supply of five-star rooms by 2014, with major hotel groups adding 12 new properties, six each in north and south Goa.
InterContinental Hotels Group will build a hotel with a convention centre in Baga and a Marriott is under construction in Khobravado. DoubleTree by Hilton has also just opened in Arpora.
Meanwhile, Ronil Beach Resort Goa in Baga is being upgraded to a five-star property, while work in Cavelossim on three new hotels are also to begin immediately. Saipem near Candolim will get one hotel and two have been slated for Calangute, all by local hotel groups.
Goa currently has 25 five-star properties, totalling 3,465 rooms, though a number of luxury resorts and boutique properties have yet to receive a five-star rating from the authorities.
Arun Varma, managing director, Allways Marketing & Travel Services, said: “Goa needs this boost of high-end hospitality products to bring in the luxury clientele that has diminished in recent years. The new five-star hotels will reclaim Goa’s position as an exclusive year-round upscale resort destination.”
Ralph de Souza, spokesperson, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, said in a statement to the media: “There is a need for rooms in the luxury segment in Goa, and efforts are being made to tap the luxury segments in key international tourism markets.”
