Tata Group investing big in hotels in northeastern states with rising tourist footfall

Economic Times

25-05-2025

Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
The northeastern region of India is emerging as the most promising frontier for the tourism and hospitality sector because of its unmatched natural beauty, diversity, local cuisines, and culture.To cater to the increasing number of tourists coming into the eight states of northeast India, especially over the past few years, hotel businesses are booming.Jayanta Das, Area Director-North East, Darjeeling, Bhutan and Nepal for Tata Group 's Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), speaking at a tourism-focused session at the just-concluded Rising Northeast Investors Summit 2025, said that they wish to grow their multi-brand presence in the northeast to 30 hotels by 2030.IHCL, along with partners' ecosystem, Das said, is committed to investing Rs 2,500 crore in the region over the next three years."It's (northeast India's) unmatched natural beauty, rich cultural diversity and increasing government focus on infrastructure development that have laid the foundation for a robust investment ecosystem," Das told the session.He said that IHCL is committed to building new tourist circuits and itineraries across all states of northeastern India."Our planned expansion into the northeast is backed by belief in sustainable luxury and community-led development. We currently have nine operating hotels and two luxury homestays," Das said.IHCL has nine operating hotels in the region with a multi-brand presence in capital cities of Guwahati with a Vivanta and Ginger, Gangtok with Taj Guras Kutir Resort and Spa, Ginger and Tree of Life resort, a Vivanta hotel in Shillong and Tawang, Ginger in Agartala and a Vivanta in the leisure destination of Pakyong.The pipeline includes five upcoming hotels in Agartala, Itanagar, Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh.Speaking about the experience of establishing a Taj Vivanta property in Tawang, he said, "It was not about setting up a hotel in the remotest part of Arunachal, but the idea was to create an institution there, which is just 28 kilometres away from the China border. And in less than one year since we opened up that place, we had four parliamentary committee meetings there. The idea is to tell our friendly neighbour next door that we have a parliamentary committee meeting (going on) here (close to the borders)."On May 20, IHCL and the Tripura government signed a 90-year lease agreement for Taj Pushpabanta Palace in Agartala.Notably, the palace hotels come at the highest end of Tata luxury collections."A Taj Palace hotel in Agartala is something I don't think we imagined even a year or two ago. It's a statement that we can make about how as an organization, we are focussed on the northeast," Das said.Agartala's Pushpabanta Palace was built in 1917 by Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya Bahadur. It was a holiday home for the king and his guests. The property later functioned as the Governor's official residence till 2018. The development with IHCL is proposed to have 100 rooms, all of which will be housed in a newly built structure, paying homage to the heritage palace architecture. The palace itself will house select public areas and royal suites.Das said that the refurbishment and expansion are expected to be completed in the next three years.Beyond hotels and properties, Tatas partnered with the Assam government just two years ago for a hospitality skill development centre on the outskirts of Guwahati. Over the past two years, over 700 students have been trained at this centre.A similar centre will be opened in the tribal areas of Tripura, he apprised the gathering."The idea is to create an ecosystem and generate employment and livelihood for local people in our hotels and also beyond," he supplemented.Jayanta Das, referring to the Tata semiconductor project in Guwahati at an investment of Rs 27,000 crore, said it reflects the intent the Tata Group has in the northeastern region. "Tata Group is extremely committed towards the northeast," Das said.Speaking at the session, Deval Tibrewalla, CEO and Director of Polo Towers Group, also outlined their upcoming plans in the northeast."Right now we have nine hotels, and we are building seven more. It will be 16 hotels. We are now the northeast India's largest hotel company," Tibrewalla said.Polo Towers Group is building a hotel in Kohima (a 162-room five-star hotel), Dimapur (a 200-room five-star hotel), and Cherrapunjee."We are doing more hotels in Meghalaya, we are very keen in doing hotels in Assam. Till now we haven't started our Assam journey. We would also happily like to come to Mizoram," he added.According to him, the tourist boom in the region is because of improved roads, highways, and airport connectivity. He said that UDAN scheme has been a game changer for intra-northeast air connectivity.