Middle East-based Keralaite businessman Ravi Pillai said here Thursday that tourism is the only viable business opportunity in Kerala and sought the private sector's entry into the titanium industry.

 

 

 "In Kerala the cost of land and salaries is very high besides there are political issues also. Today tourism is the only viable business proposition in Kerala. Another one is the titanium industry, but that is not allowed in the private sector and it should be opened up," Pillai told reporters here.

 

 Pillai owns the RP Group of Companies that has varied business interest across the globe and is the largest employer of Indians in the Middle East with close to 70,000 employees, of which 70 percent are Indians.

 

 He has business interests in all the Middle East countries and is a big player in the oil and gas sector.

 

 A Padma Shri and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman winner, Pillai owns two premium super luxury hotels (Kovalam and Kollam), two luxury hotels in Kozhikode and another two in Dubai. 

 

 He is constructing a hotel in Kozhikode and two in Dubai.

 

 He has now branched into the gas exploration industry and has businesses in Australia and is starting in Mozambique in Africa next month.

  

 As part of the corporate social responsibility programme of his company, he is sponsoring the marriage of more than 100 couples to be held in his home town at Kollam Aug 25.

 

IANS