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Nakul Anand Elected President of HAI – The Apex Hotel Body
Mr. Nakul Anand, Divisional Chief Executive – Hotels, ITC Ltd. was unanimously elected President of the Hotel Association of India at the Annual General Meeting of the Association held on Tuesday, 8th December 2009 at New Delhi. Mr. Anand succeeds Ms. Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd., as the President of the apex body of the Indian hotel industry.
Mr. Ajoy Misra, Senior Vice President (S&M), Taj Group of Hotels, was elected as the Vice President of the Association.
Mr. Vikram Oberoi, Joint Managing Director of East India Hotels Limited (Oberoi Group) was elected as the Honorary Treasurer of the Association.
Mr. Rupak Gupta, Executive Director, U P Hotels Ltd. was elected as the Honorary Secretary of the Association.
The new team of office bearers headed by Mr. Nakul Anand will constitute the decision making Management Committee of the elite organization of Indian hospitality industry for a two year term (2009-11) that will see the transition of hotel industry into the next decade on a high growth trajectory.
The Heads of India's leading hotel companies who include Mr. PRS Oberoi, Chairman & Chief Executive of the Oberoi Hotels, Mr. Raymond Bickson, Managing Director of the Taj Group, Capt. C. P. Krishnan Nair, Chairman, Hotel Leelaventure Ltd., Ms. Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Parks Hotels Ltd. and Ms. Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson & Managing Director of the Bharat Hotels Limited were elected as Corporate Members of the Executive Committee of HAI.
Speaking after his election Mr. Nakul Anand said that "there is no doubt that the 2008-09 was extremely challenging owing to the cataclysmic events that occurred for the hospitality industry and as for other sectors, be it global economic downturn or terrorism. We managed to navigate through the rough times and now look ahead to entering the new decade fully committed to triple bottom-line objectives: economic, environmental and social".
Mr. Anand referred to the national objective of achieving 10 million visitors and 800 million domestic tourist visits by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan which he said "places a special responsibility on the hospitality industry for creating the required hotel accommodation infrastructure which would not only be world class but fully adhering to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's commitments for environment protection measures at the ongoing Copenhagen Conference".
He assured full co-operation of the hotel industry to the Central and State Governments in evolving public-private sector partnership for the infrastructural growth of hospitality sector.
The new HAI President added that "the Hotel Association of India would strengthen its international and regional linkages, especially with forums such as the International Hotel and Restaurant Association, SAARC and BIMSTEC for promoting closer regional co-operation among South Asian countries in the tourism and hospitality field".