Sinclairs Hotels is looking at opening up of Nathu-La border route connecting India and China for business at its north Bengal properties.
The Kolkata based company has five properties of which three at Siliguri, Darjeeling and Chalsa were in north Bengal in the lap of Himalayas.
Suresh Bhatia, vice president of the company said the tourist movement would get a shot in the arm once Nathu-La was opened.
In fact, a large member Chinese team would be visiting north Bengal in the month of October.
"A motor rally team comprising around 100 members from the Tibet and China automobile clubs is coming from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to Siliguri via Kathmandu. They will travel south to Santiniketan before leaving for China again. In both directions, they will stay in our hotels and this is clearly the shape of things to come," he said.
However, Siliguri, which is likely to come up as a transhipment and tourism hub for Nathu-La, needs better air connectivity. It has an airport in Bagdogra, but that has to be upgraded to international standards.
Since all the Sinclairs property, apart from Siliguri, is located at tourist destinations, occupancy has been low due to seasonality of the business. Last year, it was hovering in the range of 30 per cent.
"Once the connectivity picks up, it will solve lot of our problem. North Bengal could be the hub for Buddhist tourism, connecting Sikkim, Bihar and other places," K P Bihani, executive director of the company, said.
Bhatia informed that talks have been initiated with Nepal Tourism Board for a possible tie up so that Sinclairs properties and north Bengal gets a good chunk of foreign tourist visiting Nepal.
"The tour could be extended to Bhutan in the north and Dhaka in the Bangladesh as well," he informed.
In preparation of the future possibilities and to ramp up occupancy at its hill resort in Chalsa in Dooars, Sinclairs has launched wellness programme now available in places like Kerala.
"Health tourism is picking up and many people from eastern region are going down south for nature therapy to address stress issues. In Sinclairs we are offering rejuvenating powers of ayurveda with a special emphasis on hydrotherapy. Individuals will have the option to go through colon irrigation, a detoxifying process for human body," Bhatia informed.
He said the offer, attractively packaged as an annual maintenance contract for human body would be available in individual as well as corporate packages.
With all the effort, company's topline is expected to grow up to 15 per cent while the bottomline is expected to register growth of 10 per cent.
Last year, it has invested Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) for upgradation while another Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) would be invested this fiscal. Apart from three north Bengal properties, the other two are located in Ooty and Port Blair.
