Year on, CITCO recovers from losses, earns profit

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 19

After more than a year, Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) has made a turnaround and earned a profit in July after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hit hard by the pandemic, the corporation not only came out of the financial crisis, but also earned a profit in July this year from Hotel Mountview, Hotel Parkview and Chef Lakeview Restaurant being run by it, revealed the monthly information report of the three hotels.

Due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the hospitality industry suffered huge losses. With a decline in fresh Covid cases, the government removed the restrictions imposed to contain the further spread of the virus in a phased manner. With the removal of the curbs, the normalcy slowly returned and similarly, hotels being run by CITCO are getting back on track.

In figures

• Hotel Mountview earned a profit of Rs48.54 lakh in July this year, whereas it had suffered a loss of Rs1.14 crore in July last year.
• The profit of Hotel Parkview increased in comparison to last year. In July 2021, the hotel earned a profit of Rs49.14 lakh, whereas the profit in July 2020 was Rs32 lakh.
• Chef Lakeview Restaurant also earned a profit of Rs43.79 lakh, whereas it had suffered a loss of Rs27.15 lakh in July 2020.

According to the monthly report, Hotel Mountview earned a profit of Rs48.54 lakh in July this year, whereas it had suffered a loss of Rs1.14 crore in July last year.

Similarly, the profit of Hotel Parkview increased in comparison to last year. In July 2021, the hotel earned a profit of Rs49.14 lakh, whereas the profit in July 2020 was Rs32 lakh.

Chef Lakeview Restaurant also earned a profit of Rs43.79 lakh, whereas it had suffered a loss of Rs27.15 lakh in July 2020.

A senior official said CITCO had suffered a lot due to coronavirus. So, their hotels, other than Hotel Parkview, were running into losses. Now, the business of the hotels was getting back on track and a lot of efforts were being made by the department to increase the profitability of the hotels.

Kashmir Chand, chairman, CITCO Progressive Workers’ Union, said the corporation should reduce its expenses so that the profit could increase automatically. To give a boost to the tourism sector, the government should also give a special grant to CITCO.

Adversely affected by the pandemic, the government had earlier given a grant-in-aid of Rs27 crore to CITCO to meet the expenses.

Suffering heavy losses due to the closure of the hospitality industry during the lockdown, CITCO had demanded a one-time grant-in-aid of Rs27 crore from the UT Administration to meet the salary expenses and compensation on account of waiving licence fee of commercial establishments given on rent.

The corporation had to take a loan against a fixed deposit to pay nearly Rs5 crore as salary to around 1,200 employees, including permanent, contractual and outsourced.

As certain businesses and commercial activities were not allowed due to the pandemic, the corporation has to waive monthly licence fee of various commercial establishments and rent of shops at Sukhna Lake.

In November last year, the authorities had to ask the deputy general managers of Hotel Mountview, Hotel Shivalikview and Chef Lakeview to increase sales and revenues so that the salaries of employees could be arranged from their own operational revenues.

Profit in July

Hit hard by the pandemic, Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited not only came out of the financial crisis, but also earned a profit in July this year from Hotel Mountview, Hotel Parkview and Chef Lakeview restaurant being run by it, revealed the monthly information report of the three hotels.