A day after the environment ministry's green signal for the Navi Mumbai airport project, leading hotel chains said they would set up properties in the vicinity. The airport is designed to handle a peak load of 40 million passengers a year by 2030.
Hotel chains are now eagerly awaiting the final blueprint of the government's plan before initiating their move.
Rajiv Kaul, senior vice-president of Hotel Leelaventure, said, "It will be something that we will definitely look at. Typically, it takes three years to build a new hotel."
Hilton and Marriott of the US, which are collectively opening more than 130 hotels in India, are awaiting more clarity on the overall impact of the new airport before deciding their plans.
"There will absolutely be a lot of interest within Marriott to have properties near the new airport. We would be looking to tie up with developers. However, some clarity is needed," said Rajeev Menon, area vice-president, Marriott.
Lenny Menezes, chairman, Hilton India, said: "We will certainly look at having a property near the new airport, but that can happen only after looking into the plans of the government."
Industry experts said Navi Mumbai can replicate the success of business districts like Gurgaon in Haryana, which reported a growth of 350 per cent in hotel inventories in the past five years, helped primarily by the Delhi airport, which is less than 10
km away.
They said Navi Mumbai can be developed into a hospitality hub that would be equipped with better infrastructure compared to the area near the existing airport at Santacruz, which has an availability of only 5,000 branded rooms.
Vijay Thacker, director, Horwath HTL, a consultancy firm, said the new hospitality hub could cater to guests from Lonavala and Pune, given the excellent connectivity.
The industry's working body, Federation of Hotels & Restaurant Association of India, will contact the government for a separate area for the development of hotels on the lines of Delhi airport.
A new supply of hotels in Navi Mumbai will lessen the overall deficit of branded hotel rooms in the country, which, according to the industry players, is over 150,000 rooms.
Typically, a 5-star hotel property has 300-500 rooms, while a four- and three-star property has 150-250 rooms.
