Shruti Shibulal's Tamara Leisure expects 3-fold growth this fiscal; looks to expand via acquisitions

Hospitality firm Tamara Leisure Experiences expects its business to grow three-fold in the current fiscal, compared to pre-pandemic levels, amid easing of travel restrictions, according to the company CEO Shruti Shibhulal.The company is looking at inorganic expansion through acquisitions across its affordable, mid-segment and leisure businesses across India as well as overseas through internal accruals, Shibulal told PTI.Due to COVID there was instability...

Hospitality firm Tamara Leisure Experiences expects its business to grow three-fold in the current fiscal, compared to pre-pandemic levels, amid easing of travel restrictions, according to the company CEO Shruti Shibhulal.

The company is looking at inorganic expansion through acquisitions across its affordable, mid-segment and leisure businesses across India as well as overseas through internal accruals, Shibulal told PTI.

''Due to COVID there was instability... This year we are expecting to hit about three times the number that we hit in 2019-20. Take the cut-off as March,'' she said on the sidelines of Entrepreneur Annual Conclave.

Tamara Leisure operates in three segments -- luxury resorts, business hotels and mid-segment.

Daughter of Infosys co-founder and former CEO SD Shibulal said that the last couple of years were very unstable. The company's business hotels were running in losses but with the easing of travel restrictions, the revenue has boomed again.

''... We are seeing a very different behavior from the last few years. I would say between 2019 and 2023 we have grown about 10 times,'' Shibulal said.

Besides organic expansion, the company is looking to expand business both within the country and overseas through acquisitions.

''We are looking at Lilac Hotels, which is our mid-segment hotel, there we look at a minimum of 50 keys. For O By Tamara, we look at a minimum of 100 keys.

''For a resort we look at it by area. We look to try to find places which have a story, destinations where we can build experiences, It should be at least 10 acres for us to be able to build something really meaningful and delightful,'' Shibulal said.

She said that the key motivation for her being in the hospitality business is to create meaningful jobs for the local community and drive social welfare around the company's assets.

Tamara Leisure will launch a new unit of its business hotel, O By Tamara, at Coimbatore and the first Lilac Hotel in a pilgrimage centre, Guruvayur, early next year.

''We have also acquired four properties in Germany. We're looking at acquisitions of both property as well as land acquisitions on which we can develop our three brands.

''We are also at a tipping point where we're starting to consider what an asset light model would look for us. This is something we haven't done before but we want it to be something that we know would really help us scale,'' Shibulal said.

She said that all acquisitions and expansion is being done by internal accruals of the company.

''We have properties right now coming up across Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Those are the places where I have projects which are in the pipeline. We have four projects which are under construction for renovation. I have two projects, which are in the approval stages,'' Shibulal said.

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