Diversified conglomerate ITC plans to expand its hospitality business outside India through owned and managed properties, hoping to cash in on the post-Covid resurgence in business prospects.

The Calcutta-based giant, which formally launched its first luxury hotel outside the country at Colombo in Sri Lanka on Thursday, has decided that its next stop will be Nepal where it possesses land where it can build its next upscale hotel.

ITC will not only set up its own hotel but is also scouting for management contracts in that market, chairman Sanjiv Puri said.

The overseas foray will be over and above the 70 new hotels that ITC is looking to open over the next five years in India, most of which will be under management contracts. It aims to spend anywhere between Rs 700 and 1,000 crore for refurbishment and new property development.

The next hotel that ITC will build after Colombo will be at Puri, the temple town on the shores of Bay of Bengal in Odisha. The company is in the process of pulling down the guest house it had there to make way for a WelcomeGroup-branded hotel.

“We have strong credentials in hospitality which we can take outside India now. Very clearly, the focus is going to be on proximal markets, be it for FMCG or hospitality,” Puri said at a media conference.

In Nepal, the company began its journey with cigarettes followed by non-tobacco FMCG (biscuits) and it is now exploring opportunities in the hospitality sector. The company has the land to build a hotel there. In Sri Lanka, the Calcutta headquartered company will also explore investment options in the FMCG sector.

Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who inaugurated the Colombo property, said: “ITC Ratnadipa will become a symbol of Colombo and its tourism industry… I hope this (hotel) attracts more Indian companies to set up hotels here.”

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunewardena was also present on the occasion.

President Wickremesinghe said the Sri Lanka tourism industry was a strong focus area for the country and there were plans to develop Galle, Kandy and Trincomalee apart from Colombo as tourist destinations.

The group has invested $ 500 million in developing the ITC Ratnadipa and a super-luxe residential block facing the Indian Ocean on Galle Face in Colombo. Santosh Jha, Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, described it as the largest investment by an Indian company in Sri Lanka till date.

ITC Ratnadipa

The 352-room property, arguably at the best possible location at Colombo’s Galle Face, is hoping to drive tourists from India and especially from Calcutta. Easy visa rules, affordable airfare and the favourable foreign exchange rate for the Indian rupee make Sri Lanka an attractive destination for Indian tourists looking for holiday options outside South East Asia and Middle East.

The towering hotel and the adjacent residential block is spread over 2.4 million square feet overlooking the Indian ocean and the Beira Lake. The property, which boasts nine restaurants including some of ITC’s signature brands such as Avartana and Peshawari, is targeting not only leisure tourists but the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) segment.

The hotel has banqueting facilities spread across 40,000 square feet that ITC is promoting not only to attract large conferences but also glitzy weddings. Sources indicated that the hotel will host a major global conference in the days ahead on the strength of the property’s green credentials among other sterling attributes.

(Sambit Saha was in Colombo at the invitation of ITC Ltd)