Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), a Tata Group company that runs the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces chain of hotels, will be investing Rs 2,100 crore in developing 5,900 rooms across segments in the next three years. The company will be investing Rs 1,500 crore in constructing 1,900 five star luxury rooms and Rs 600 crore in 4,000 premium and budget rooms, said Ratan N Tata, chairman, at the annual general meeting of the company on Thursday.

Tata said, ?The global slowdown will affect the travel and hospitality industry. However, the industry is expected to grow at a rate of 3%.? He added that the company, in the coming years, plans to further its presence domestically and internationally. ?We plan to stand up and take the name of Taj and the Indian flag to places.”

As per the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report, Indian tourism and hospitality industry is expected to generate approximately $100 billion in 2008. During the first four months of 2008, India has witnessed a growth of 11.9% in international tourist arrival, at 2.02 million.

Noting that India is far behind in infrastructure from its neighbours and other countries, Tata expressed concerns over the industry not getting its actual importance. He said, ?The government, even today, has not understood the importance of the tourism industry as a huge foreign exchange generator. The industry is looked at as a secondary activity in the country.?

He added that India, that attracted 5 million international tourist arrivals in 2007, a 12% growth over the last year, makes just 0.5% of the total global tourist traffic. He also touched upon the tremendous demand lying at the lower end of the pyramid, with approximately 500 million people travelling within India.

Currently, IHCL has 12 luxury, 20 business, 28 leisure and 12 budget hotels, domestically, and eight luxury, four business and four leisure hotels, internationally. Of the total revenues of the IHCL, the luxury segment stands at 72%, leisure 13% and business at 15%.

During the year 2008-09, IHCL will be opening around nine hotels in cities including Bangalore, Panjim, Varanasi, Chennai and Trivandrum, among others. At present, IHCL has 72 hotels in India and 16 hotels overseas.

On the company?s interest in US-based Orient Express Hotels (OEH), Tata said, ?We are still holding the expression of interest and hope that it turns into something more than that.?