Hilton Hotels Corp, the second-largest US provider of rooms, and joint venture partner DLF Ltd will spend about US$1.5 billion to acquire land and build 50 to 75 hotels in India, said Koos Klein, Hilton’s Asia-Pacific president.

‘We feel very comfortable’ about achieving the goal in five to seven years, Mr Klein said in an interview in Singapore on Tuesday.

Hilton, based in Beverly Hills, California, will invest US$143 million building the properties.

DLF, a real estate company owned by billionaire Kushal Pal Singh, will control 74 per cent of the venture.

New Delhi-based DLF received regulatory approval this week to sell at least US$2.1 billion of shares.

The fastest pace of economic expansion in two decades is drawing more business travellers to Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Tourism may expand at a rate of 8.8 per cent a year in the next decade, behind only Montenegro and China, according to the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council. Hilton joins companies such as Accor SA and EasyHotel Ltd in entering India, where demand for accommodation at key business and leisure destinations is expected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate of 10 per cent in the next five years, according to Crisil Research, unit of a credit-rating company.

Hilton’s average revenue per room in the Asia-Pacific region grew about 15 per cent in the first three months of this year, Mr Klein said.

The development of the first few hotels will be financed with equity from the joint venture, Hilton said in an e-mail.

‘It is not likely that the joint venture will use a lot of debt building, if any, in the first stage of development,’ the statement added.

Hilton said on Nov 28 that it will build its Hilton Hotels and Hilton Garden Inn brand in India, a move made possible by its US$5.7 billion purchase of Hilton Group based in the United Kingdom.

The venture will initially build 20 hotels in cities including Chandigarh, Chennai, and Kolkata to cater to business travellers, it said.

Source: The Business Times, 18 May 2007