Visakhapatnam: Managing director of Daspalla Hotels Raghavendra Rao highlighted the changing landscape of the hospitality sector and the role of Andhra Pradesh Star Hotels Association (ASHA) in promoting professional excellence in hotel operations.

At the zone meeting of the ASHA held here on Thursday, hoteliers from across North Coastal Andhra spoke about various challenges faced in the sector, areas of improvement and the roadmap ahead.

Sharing his views, joint managing director of Daspalla Hotels and vice president of ASHA Venkata Krishna briefed about the association’s objective to unify premium hotels under a common platform for collaboration, growth, and effective government liaison.

General secretary of ASHA S Murthy Chittoory spoke about the association’s future plans and recent representations to the government on key matters, including classification parity, infrastructure status, and energy sustainability.

Reiterating the association’s vision to be constructive, president of ASHA RV Swamy noted that ASHA will continue to work closely with the government to promote high-value tourism and policy improvements that reflect the realities of operating star-rated hotels in AP.

Chairman of Novotel Hotels and the association’s senior advisor Prabhu Kishore shared valuable inputs to strengthen the association’s approach to sustainable hospitality leadership. Eligibility for government incentives, marketing visibility, high power tariffs, excessive licensing, lack of parity in policy treatment between old and new hotels and limited access to tourism-related incentives were among other topics discussed at the programme.