The Indian hotel industry which has been hit badly by the economic downturn, last November’s Mumbai terror attacks and a slew of travel advisories issued by various countries in the wake of Swine flu, is looking forward to a fuller recovery in occupancy levels by 2010.
The industry is also adding over 90,000 more rooms across the country in five years to meet demand.
Overall occupancy levels had dipped by 12.4 per cent from the third quarter of the previous financial year and the decline was sharper among the four stars and five star categories .Fall in occupancy was highest in Mumbai at 18.4 per cent and Jaipur at 16.1 per cent.
“Stimulus packages announced by the government have been a shot in the arm for the industrial sector, which is now showing signs of recovery and growth. The hotel industry too anticipates a fuller recovery by 2010,” said MP Purushothaman, vice-president of federation of hotel and restaurant associations of India and president of South India hotels and restaurants association
Since the beginning of the financial downturn, average room rate in hotels fell by 1.9 per cent .The contribution of the hotel industry to the country’s GDP too went down from 6.8 per cent in 2007-08 to 601 per cent in 2008-09.
With visible signs of recovery, many stalled hotel projects have resumed construction activities. As per data available with Sihra, 94,115 more quality rooms will be added in around 15 cities within a period of five years. The existing hotel properties in these cities have 48,475 rooms.
According to T Natarajan, chief executive officer of GRT Hotels and Resorts, the hotel industry has a good potential in unexplored tourist destinations, B-class cities and smaller state capitals.
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