Time to turn the page at ITDC

In an exclusive, G Kamala Vardhana Rao (IAS), Chairman & Managing Director, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), talks about their preparedness before opening and other initiatives that the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) is considering to revive and reinvent itself to help it sail through the pandemic.

Nisha Verma

What helped you sail through the lockdown?

At ITDC, we have been standing together as a team and working to support government initiatives, while implementing multiple proactive and precautionary measures to contain the threat caused by the pandemic. To support frontline healthcare workers of government hospitals during lockdown, ITDC provided 2000 cooked and packed meals daily, prepared in our flagship hotel – The Ashok. Samrat Hotel provided quarantine accommodation to repatriates returning on Vande Bharat Mission flights. ITDC also contributed `22.50 lakh towards PM-CARES fund.

How has business been since opening, in terms of occupancy and M!CE?
We have the advantage of a large inventory of rooms and banqueting space, which can be leveraged for maintaining social distancing and room turnaround norms to the benefit of our guests. There have already been days when every banquet venue was booked – a closed date in today’s times. Demand for room business is also picking up and will stabilise in a few months from now. When guests feel safe, they travel. Once they experience our services and commitment towards their safety, they spread the word and return.

Could you tell us about new initiatives at ITDC?

In order to reinvent itself with the changing scenario, ITDC, besides consolidating its remaining business, has further diversified into new service-oriented business activities. ITDC signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government in the areas of skill development. ITDC will be responsible for designing and developing courses as well as curriculum for hospitality education and providing training to students registered with Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Council (APSSDC). We will also provide valuable inputs to APSSDC in teaching/training methodology. Together, we will also be setting up a Centre of Excellence for tourism students in the state. The AP government has also requested for the expertise of ITDC towards their vision to build a skill ecosystem for the State. We are also looking to expand our Duty-Free business at seaports.