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Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, January 18
The growing demand for International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is not only benefitting travel agents and institutes, but is also proving to be a boon for the hotel industry.
Two organisations —IDP Australia and British Council —conduct the exam at the designated centres. The test is held four times in a month in 38 cities across the country. As the test is held on 48 times in a year, candidates can appear for it as per their convenience to meet their individual admission or deadline requirements.
“Close to 6,000 candidates take the exam in a single day and 20,000 in a month in Jalandhar. The number of students appearing for the exam in other cities is even more,” said Harvinder, the owner of an IELTS institute.
Unlike other competitive exams, the IELTS exam is not held in colleges or schools. It takes place in 3-star or 5-star hotels. As per sources, five to seven hotels are working with the IDP and British Council. These organisations pay the rent of banquet halls for conducting the exam. Besides, they provide staff, along with their teams, to manage all affairs related to the exam.
In Jalandhar four hotels —President, Kings, Maya and Petal Banquet — have association with the IDP, while the British Council conducts the exam mostly in Regent Park and the speaking test in Best Western Summerlea. According to the sources, the charges for taking the hall on rent vary from hotel to hotel, but these approximately cost the ILETS organisations close to Rs2 or Rs2.5 lakh per month.
Besides, the hotels are also assigned the duty to look after foreign examiners, who come to the city for the IELTS speaking test. According to Kamaljit Singh, the owner of Country Inn hotel here, IELTS is benefiting the hotel industry in almost every aspect. He said the IELTS had given the hotel industry a push.
Talking about the one-time rent charged by hotels, he said, “The rent of the banquet hall is Rs 50,000 plus taxes and it accommodates around 200-300 candidates. For the speaking test, the IDP or British Council book rooms for the examiners who stay in the city for two to three days. The charges of their stay and food are between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000.”
Amit Vij, operation handler at President hotel, said they accommodated around 200 candidates who appear for the IELTS exam in a single day.