Shimla to have Taj's 39th hotel in the country

Shimla: Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), a group of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, plan to set up a hotel-cum-resort near Shimla.

This will be Taj group's 39th hotel in the country.

It's being developed by Mahamaya Infrastructure Private Ltd.

Spread over five acres on a hilltop near Theog, some 40 km from Shimla, the 70-room hotel will be equipped with an all-day dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant, a bar and other recreational facilities.

Gateway Hotel and Resorts is a pan India network of upscale hotels and resorts and was launched in 2008. Its portfolio consists of 20 operating hotels and 19 under development.

The group plans to target both domestic and foreign tourists who visit the hill state round the year.

The 2010 tourist arrival number was 16.38 percent higher than 2009 and 25 percent up from 2008.

The number of foreign tourists increased from 400,583 in 2009 to 454,851 in 2010, registering an increase of 54,268 or over 13 percent in a year.

The famous hill stations like Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala, Dalhousie and Kasauli were the most popular among both Indians and foreigners.