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MOTLEY COLLECTION OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC NEWS |
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 Taj to buy Ritz-Carlton
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces says it had agreed to buy The Ritz-Carlton Boston hotel, the longest continuously operated Ritz-Carlton hotel in the United States, for $170 million. The 79-year-old luxury hotel, a fixture in Boston’s elegant Back Bay section, overlooks one of the oldest parks in the country. It is being sold by Millennium Partners, a New York- based real estate developer.
The 273-room hotel will be renamed Taj Boston, Indian Hotels Chief Executive Raymond Bickson said in a statement. Taj Hotels Resorts is a unit of Indian Hotels Co. Ltd, India’s biggest hotel operator. In 1999, Millennium paid $122 million for the Ritz-Carlton Boston, which opened in 1927 and was built by Edward Wyner.
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 Reliance to give Pepsi, Coke an Indian punch
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are all set to face a new competitor. And it’s none other than Reliance. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail plans to launch its own cola, which will be retailed through its supermarkets across the country. While Reliance declined comment, sources said the company is in negotiations with a Chinese company for importing the concentrate. At the same time, it’s on the look out for idle capacities to be used for bottling the proposed ‘Reliance Cola’. The company has touched base with the makers of a small local player RC Cola, to lease out its bottling plant, a source said. But this could not be confirmed. And it’s not just about colas. The company plans to introduce its own brands across half a dozen product categories, such as tea, natural food, diary products, biscuits and cosmetics.
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 PDOT sends a first tourism sales delegation to India
Philippine Tourism Secretary Joseph H. Durano led the first-ever Philippine Tourism sales delegation to India between November 21-24. During the four-day visit, Durano met with tourism secretary Rathi Vinay Jha to discuss cooperative measures on tourism between the two nations. Consultations with Philippine Ambassador to India Laura del Rosario took place for ountry initiatives to strengthen tourism promotion in the region. Durano also launched the Philippines marketing office in New Delhi. He also led the Philippines delegation in a travel exchange programme between Filipino travel agents and their Indian counterparts.
He is keen in luring a sizable share of India's seven million outbound tourists who opt for beaches, sight-seeing, shopping, entertainment, gaming. They spend an average of $1,200 per visit, putting them in the category of “highly appreciated tourists.”
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December 2006
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