The Hindu : Front Page : Hospitality industry as soft target

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Hospitality industry as soft target

Inherent perils that the nature of the business bring with it

New Delhi: Attacks on two luxury hotels — the Taj and the Trident — in the country’s financial capital have drawn attention again to the fact that hotels are a soft target for terrorists who want to draw the attention of the world to their causes.

There have been similar attacks on hotels elsewhere.

Recently in Islamabad a blast targeted the Marriott Hotel near Pakistan’s Parliament, killing 40 people and wounding another 200. In Jordan, the Al-Qaeda conducted a series of coordinated bombings on three hotels in the capital city Amman on November 9, 2005. The blasts at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Radisson SAS Hotel, and the Days Inn killed 60 people and injured 115. One of the hotels was hosting a wedding with hundreds of guests.

In October 2004, bombings at three sites on the east coast of the Sinai peninsula killed 34 people. The Egyptian government said the mastermind was Palestinian and the targets appeared to be Israeli tourists. On August 5, 2003, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta killing 12 people and injuring 150.

The hotel was viewed as a symbol of Western power and thus been the prime focus of terrorists. Another reason why hotels are being targeted is because of the kind of clientele, experts say. Mumbai being the financial capital, at the centre of economic decision-making, there are numerous important delegates checking into one of the seven or five star hotels in the city.

Measures needed

In the hospitality industry, a guest is treated like god, seldom subjected to frisking or scanning of luggage. This leaves hotels open to attacks like the ones in Mumbai, say experts.

Experts have sought upgrading of security measures in the elite hotel industry on a par with other international “check-in” venues.

“Like airports, where a tourist has to undergo checks through X-ray scanners and other surveillance methods, the hotel industry needs to implement all these hi-tech techniques to avoid future attacks,” says retired Brigadier Virendra Kumar.

Brigadier Kumar, who had served as a security expert with the Army, described the Mumbai attacks as extremely shocking and bold and said it called for a shake-up of the entire Intelligence setup. “In hotels, nobody cares about the visitors. A proper security system should be implemented as such these places are frequently visited by foreign tourists.”

The hotel fraternity also was caught unawares and said they would be more careful from now on and tighten security. “We have set up fool-proof security. CCTVs, trained security personnel, armed guards and Delhi police officials but after this attack, we are taking it as a warning,” says Ritu Bararia, corporate head, The Park hotel.

Anjali Chatterjee, GM Marketing, The Lalit (previously Intercontinental- The Grand) says, “We are doing what we can. Every industry has some limitations and being in the hospitality sector, it’s a bit difficult to take extreme measures sometimes. We need to monitor our security constantly.”

Attributing the attack to total lack of failure on the part of intelligence, Major General Surat Sandhu (retd.), says, “The government should form an anti-terrorist squad by Army to keep vigil of all the sensitive zones of the country. All five-star hotels, airports and other ‘happening’ areas should come under this and optimise the use of Army as a resource.”

GM’s wife, sons killed

The wife and two teenaged sons of Taj Hotels General Manager Karambir Kang were killed in the attack.

A relative of the Kangs family, which hails from Mohali, said that while Karambir Kang was not in the hotel on Wednesday night, his wife Neeti and sons Uday (14) and Samar (5) were. — PTI

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