Corporates eyeing Port City as the new conference hub

VISAKHAPATNAM: Taking a break from brainstorming sessions in the concrete jungles of Hyderabad, an increasing number of corporates are now dropping anchor in the Port City as it offers an ideal mix of business and pleasure.
Hotel industry sources say Vizag is fast turning into a MICE (meeting, incentives, conventions and exhibition) hub with businesses preferring to hold high-level meetings and conventions in the city as they can soak in the cool sea after a hard day’s work.
Already companies like Nestle, Philips, Samsung, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, ACC, Murugappa group, Monsanto Seeds and Life Insurance Corporation have checked out the city’s hospitality through conferences over the past year or so. And its not just small conferences but big-ticket ones too that are headed for Vizag. While last year the city hosted 1300 agents of Delhi-based Trail Blazers, Samsung organized a similar do where 700 people participated. This year too, the city played host to 300 personnel from Defence Services Staff College and another 350 people at an event organized by Monsanto Seeds.
Apart from the ideal combination of sun, sea and sand that the City of Destiny offers, what has made it a draw with corporates is the availability of big convention facilities like Novotel’s 1200-seater property bang on Beach Road. This is incidentally the largest convention centre in the state after Novotel’s Hyderabad convention centre. Sources say in the last couple of years city hotels have witnessed a 10% spurt in terms of conferences and conventions, with Novotel Varun Beach alone hosting 45 large events since it was opened 16 months ago.
Explaining the reasons for corporates increasingly opting for Vizag, Varun Group chief operating officer Madhav Bellamkonda said, “People are tired of seeing concrete all around. They want to see what else they can do to unwind in their leisure time.”
“Instead of going to Pune, Goa or Hyderabad, people are looking at other options and once they come to Vizag they just fall in love with the place. As the economy improves, more conferences will keep pouring in,” said Bellamkonda. The increasing number of conferences has benefited the over 15 star hotels in the city that are leaving no stone unturned to provide a slew of facilities including Wi-Fi, centres equipped with projectors for power point presentations and also holiday packages centred around Vizag’s beaches and the scenic Araku Valley.
General manager of Green Park Hotels, KM Rao said, “Unlike earlier when the visitors had limited hotels to choose from, today there are better and bigger conference facilities in the city. And it’s not just about conferences, the city is emerging as a preferred choice for national and international level seminars, product launches and exhibitions as well.”
While the conferences offer a platform for business networking, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) deputy director K Ganeshan said they also help create local business opportunities. Elaborating, he said, “Let’s say a team from Japan or any other country visits a place, they will be looking at the business potential, which will in turn boosts the local economy.” With CII itself having organised about four conferences in the past one year, he said, “People from Bangalore, Bhubhaneshwar, Kolkata are visiting Vizag.”
According to hotel industry experts, conferences not just benefit the hotel in which they are being held but also boost the fortunes of the entire hotel industry in the city. “Huge conferences benefits the entire industry as spillover visitors have to be accommodated in other hotels as well,” said Novotel general manager Mohammed Shoeb.