Odisha mulls second hotel management institute at Khallikote in Ganjam

College of Art and Crafts, Khallikote, Ganjam

To bridge the demand supply gap in human resources for the hospitality sector, the state government proses to set up a second State Institute for Hotel Management (SIHM) at Khallikote in Ganjam district after Bolangir. For establishing the institute, the planning and coordination department has asked the tourism department to provide detailed project report including availability of land, courses to be imparted with durations, intake capacity for different courses, total financial implications for the project, staffing pattern etc by observing the guide lines of Government of India (GoI). “The Director of Tourism has asked the Principal, Institute of Hotel Management, Bhubaneswar to draw the DPR while the Director of Culture has been asked to earmark about five acre of land around the government college of art and craft, Khallikote,” said an official in the tourism department. He said, after the finalization of the DPR, the proposal will be forwarded to the Centre for approval.

At present, the government runs two institutes in the state with intake of capacity of 593 students while there are about 13 private colleges providing courses in the hotel management. Similarly, the state government is mulling to start three year Bachelor Degree Courses in Hotel and Hospitality management at SIHM, Bolangir and is likely to send a proposal soon to the Centre in this regard. Opening of more institutes in the sector assume significance as many premium category hotels like Taj Group of Hotel and ITC hotels have lined up investment plans in Odisha while Roots Corporation Limited (RCL) - a subsidiary of Indian Hotel Company Limited that runs Ginger hotels in the economy category are on expansion mode. Mayfair Hotels & Resorts and Trident are the only two hotels in Odisha operating in the five star deluxe brackets with total room strength of 164. Industry experts say, the annual average occupancy of these two five star hotels is expected to be around 70 per cent. In 2010-11, approximately 53,212 foreign tourists visited the state, while the number has increased to 62,816 in 2011-12.

Source: Business Standard