30 January 2005	Sunday	19 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 29: Room occupancy in leading hotels has touched 100 per cent from 50-70 per cent mainly due to Expo Pakistan 2005 and some other events.

At a time when demand has outstripped supplies, hoteliers have made a clever move to cash the opportunity by enhancing the room rate by 20-25 per cent while some hotels have made 100 per cent increase.

"We have virtually no rooms available from February 1-9, 2005," an official in the room reservation department of a leading hotel said.

It is a party time for the hotel industry. For instance, the room rate of Sheraton hotel for corporate clients is Rs12,000 plus taxes while many guests have paid Rs18,000 for rooms if they are visitor of the mega event Expo 2005 Karachi, starting from February 2-5 at the Karachi Expo Centre.

The room reservation rate for Sheraton hotel, having 409 rooms, has gone up by 20 per cent from January 1, 2005, an official in the hotel said.

Almost all the rooms at the Pearl Continental Hotel have been sold out till February 8 at the rate of $200 per room, up by 100 per cent particularly for this season, an official in the PC said. PC has 290 rooms.

An official at the Avari Towers said that all the rooms have already been booked from February 1-6 at the rate of Rs10,000 as compared to Rs3,700 in normal days. Avari has 236 rooms.

Almost all 210 rooms at Marriott Hotels have also been sold out from February 1-7 at the rate of Rs15,000 plus taxes, up by 20 per cent from the previous rates charged in normal days.

Similar story was told by an official in Regent Plaza, saying that rooms have been sold up to February 5 from February 1.

All the officials in the reservation department of these hotels said that the increase in room charges was because of the recent boom in demand and it may return to original rates after the conclusion of mega events.

There have been reports that foreign guests and even the local businessmen had been facing problems in booking of hotel rooms. Many businessmen had to face problems when they reached the hotel late for room, which they had booked earlier, as the hotel management had handed over the keys of the room to other guest at higher rates. This is against the code of ethics of business in a high profile corporate environment.

Enquiries for rooms are still pouring in at leading hotels but hotels have already run short of rooms due to sudden demand during the last one month. Hotel officials said that people had not hesitated in booking the rooms at higher rates, which could be gauged from the occupancy rate and demand which still exists.

Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) claims that Expo 2005 would attract 500 exhibitors of goods and services of Pakistan and same number of foreign buyers, investors, joint venture partners and opinion leaders from 80 countries of the world. EPB claimed that 15 commerce ministers of various countries would also witness the event.

Besides, Basant and Valentine Day are also round the corner which may attract more visitors as hotels have arranged some entertainment programmes on these two occasions. Besides, call centre conference, which was in progress and conclude tomorrow.

The chairman, Pakistan Hotels Association (PHA), Aziz Boolani said that countrywide room occupancy has shown improvement. Karachi has hosted Ideas 2004 and Expo Pakistan 2005. Even general commercial traffic has increased. Lahore traffic has shown improvement ever since country's relationship with India has improved.

"We can expect better business if the initial confidence building measures can be translated into actual trade/commerce," PHA chairman said.

Islamabad has hosted many foreign delegations and even individual traffic has shown improvement. More interest in investment opportunities in Pakistan is being shown, he said.

Even halls and banquet spaces are doing a roaring business. He said that after Ramazan, there has been a busy wedding season throughout the country. Besides this, many conferences and meetings had accounted for the occupancy of banquet/meeting places.

To a query whether the rising occupancy is a temporary phenomenon or the bubble, PHA chief said that for the hotels to be fully booked is not realistic in most environment. "I feel that occupancies will remain healthy and bullish throughout 2005," he added.

In reply to a query whether foreign guests, businessmen and corporate clients have arrived or the country's economic and political stability has encouraged them to visit Pakistan, he said both aspects are inter-connected. If domestic business conditions improve, only then will foreigners find motivation to come to Pakistan. Foreign investors, more often than not, only invest in collaboration with domestic sponsors. If businessmen in Pakistan are encouraged then sentiment flows outwards. He is of the view that government's investors' friendly policies are also helping.

He said that even local hotels are also doing a good business but not to the extent the international hotels have shown their performance.

The hotel industry has been showing signs of improvement that started in 2004. The industry will continue to thrive if the government pursues an aggressive policy of promoting tourism both domestic and foreign and irritants are removed. However, PHA, he added, is still fighting with the government on issues like removal of bed tax on hotel room charges, cut in number of taxes, power generation for hotel, handling of foreign currency (free exchange) counter, free duty and taxes on import of equipment for new projects and for renovation, five-year tax free status for new projects, marketing and image building of Pakistan in international markets, visa on arrival from most of the countries and review of airfare charges to Pakistan (PIA fares are generally higher).

OTHER HOTELS: Hotels in Saddar and other areas are attracting a number of guests' mostly local corporate clients and businessmen. Some local hotels have already raised the room reservation charges by 15-20 per cent in first week of January 2005. A lot of corporate clients, businessmen and foreigners, after losing hopes at the big hotels, have shifted towards local hotels in Saddar and its adjacent areas.

General Manager, Hotel Mehran, M.A. Azeem Qurieshi said that occupancy in his hotel is 100 per cent from the normal 85 per cent. The hotel has 191 rooms.

"Our rooms have already booked from February 1-9 mainly by the foreigners," he said adding that the management has raised the rates charges only on those rooms which have been renovated recently, otherwise rates for other rooms have been normal. He said Expo 2005 has created huge demand for rooms while some other events are also running side by side with this mega event.

General Manager, Gulf Hotel, Sabilur Rehman said that room occupancy has touched to 60 per cent from 30 per cent on the occasion of Expo 2005 and some other events. Even the occupancy rate has been showing improvement ahead of Eid as well.

Duty manager of Sarawan Hotel, Rana Sharif said that his hotel has already been booked from February 1-6, 2005 with occupancy rate touching 100 per cent as compared to 60-70 per cent in normal days, thanks to the Expo 2005. He said the hotel management has already raised the room charges by 10-15 per cent early January as it has nothing to do with the increase in rates due to mega event in Karachi. He said a lot of local businessmen have turned towards hotels in Saddar after losing hopes in foreign franchise hotels.

An official in a leading hotel at Abdullah Haroon Road said that occupancy has reached between 80-90 per cent from 30-35 per cent due to Expo 2005.Guests are mostly local businessmen, he said adding that the hotel management has not raised the rates.

Manager South Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), Riaz Hassan Khan said that 99 per cent businessmen are coming to Pakistan, thus creating a huge demand of rooms in foreign franchise hotels. He said leading hotels have now run short of rooms these days. However, he said that the arrival of tourists is still not satisfactory despite a slight gain of five per cent as compared to last year.

"Only 10-15 tourists are arriving in Karachi in a month but hardly foreign tourists are coming," he said adding that tourists, fond of skating and snow fall, are coming only in Northern areas. Somehow it is encouraging that foreign businessmen are coming in Pakistan to seek business avenues and joint ventures. Riaz also confirmed that room rates in leading hotels have gone up by 20-25 per cent and even for the government department guests.