
CHENNAI: Since the Supreme Court’s order prohibiting liquor sales within 500 metres of State and National Highways, there is a lot of grief among hoteliers. Most luxury hotels in Chennai and other cities of the State are located along the highways and hence the order makes it illegal for them to serve liquor to customers.
The apex court later clarified that highways within the municipal limits can be denotified. Anil Chadha, Vice-President (South) and General Manager of the ITC Grand Chola explains why the Tamil Nadu government must quickly de-notify the highways since the ban is affecting business. Excerpts...
How is your hotel coping?
The losses are huge. Our Food and Beverage (F&B) business is down by 30% while the banquet business that constitutes MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions), weddings, social and corporate dinner is down by 50%. In the hospitality business, nearly 30-40% of the work is picked up in advance. October to March is peak season and, as of now, there is nothing. I can’t even send someone to pitch for any other celebration because alcohol is the first thing clients ask for.
What has been the impact on the hospitality industry?
There could be almost 65-70% establishments who are badly affected. This has ensured that it is not a level playing field because even within the city there are hotels which are serving alcohol.
Many other States were quick to de-notify the highways, what do you think the State government should do?
UP got the denotification done on the same day. West Bengal had done it before that. Punjab did it and also issued an ordinance which differentiates between the ‘serving of alcohol’ and ‘sale of alcohol.’ De-notification is probably the only way out for Tamil Nadu unless we too take the ordinance route. We have been knocking on all doors, speaking to various government officers and requesting them to review the matter.
Are people choosing other destinations over Tamil Nadu due to the liquor clause?
Absolutely! It started with Tamil Nadu losing business to Kerala but, now, we are losing business to other countries. I had a huge MICE business which has moved out to Colombo because that was the best destination available for clients. Bangkok was always a hot spot for conferences but with our variety of food and Indian hospitality, we were giving them stiff competition.
Where does that leave employment in the business?
A hiring freeze will occur but fortunately for a large hotel chain like ours, there are opportunities in other hotels so internal changes keep happening. However, over a period of time, we will be forced to cut down services.
How are you compensating for the lack of alcohol?
We have replaced the cocktail ritual with a tea ritual and also things like yoga in the morning and meditation in the evening. For those who want to unwind, there is a lovely spa and for those interested in sport, there’s golf. It is almost like a detox programme before we start serving alcohol again! We are just hoping and praying that things are sorted out soon and we’re back in business!