New logo, halved room tariff to mark 50 years of ITDC

Barely a week after the Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma announced plans to disinvest in 12 of the 14 hotels under the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), the ministry is unveiling a logo to commemorate 50 years of the ITDC. The ITDC was formed 50 years ago on October 1.

The logo will be announced by Sharma in the presence of the tourism secretary and senior officials of the ministry and the ITDC on Tuesday. Apart from the new logo, designed specially for the event, a slew of offers are in place for people in the fortnight between September 24 and October 8.

The ministry has announced a discount of over 50% in room tariffs at the various Ashoka Hotels at New Delhi, Jaipur, Jammu, Guwahati, Bhopal, Bharatpur, Itanagar, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Ranchi, Mysore, and Puducherry. An additional 25% discount will be available on food and beverages. The ITDC owns eight standalone hotels, five hotels in joint ventures, three catering services and a restaurant across these cities.

"Every fiftieth guest will be given an elite card for these hotels, and we are planting 50 saplings in each of them. Apart from that, painting and slogan competitions are on the anvil," said a ministry official. Apart from that, the guests in these hotels will be gifted a souvenir, said the official.

However, officials in the ministry expressed their surprise at the sudden announcement. "This is news to us, as we were told last week that a disinvestment plan will be chalked out. We had a meeting on that, too," said a senior ministry official.