History
repeated itself at Gopalpur-on-sea on Sunday with the opening of Mayfair Palm
Beach Resorts.
Palm
Beach Hotel was the country’s first beach resort established in 1914 by two
Italian friends. It was used by the British who travelled to Rangoon, Burma
(now Myanmar) by ship. Gopalpur was also an old seaport for rice trade.
The
hotel was taken over by the Oberoi Group in 1947. It was a favourite place of
stay for Indira Gandhi, Biju Patnaik and many other eminent people. But in
2002, the Oberois closed the hotel as business failed.
The
Mayfair Group of Hotels and Resorts purchased the property a year ago. Now, it
is a splendid hotel with five-star facilities amidst lush greenery. The
heritage aspects of the hotel have been preserved aesthetically. Old
photographs of Prime Ministers and Presidents, who stayed in the hotel, and
maps and artifacts of olden times are found at different places of the hotel.
With
45 rooms, the cost of renovation and modernisation of the hotel by the Mayfair
Group amounted to Rs 45 crore. The hotel is now expected to be a national and
international destination of tourists in need of luxury rest and tranquility.
When
the big Oberoi Group could not run it, local entrepreneur Dilip Ray, who is
also a politician and heads the Mayfair Group, has been able to revive it. With
the Tata SEZ at Gopalpur on the anvil, the resort is expected to get further
boost to its business.
The
quiet inauguration of the new hotel was limited to the Mayfair family, its
friends and well-wishers. The Mayfair Group earlier has hotels and resorts in
Bhubaneswar, Puri, Rourkela, Darjeeling, Gangtok and Goa. A new second hotel is
coming up at Puri and another new hotel in Kolkata. There are also plans to
construct a five-star hotel at Paradip and another hotel at Chilka, said
sources. Source: The Pioneer
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