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Growth in India
The word hospitality covers hotels,
restaurants, industrial or organized catering for offices, hospitals,
educational institutions, private functions, defence services, railways, cruise
ships and in-flight catering.
There are about 20,000 hotels in India in
the organized sector, accounting for about 5 lac hotel rooms. The Ministry of
Tourism also approves and classifies hotels in star categories: 1-star, 2-star,
3-star, 4-star, 5-star and 5-star deluxe. In addition, there is a category of
heritage hotels. Currently there are some 1,900 hotels approved and classified
by the Ministry of Tourism, with a total of approximately 1,07,000 hotel rooms.
The star-category hotels are considered superior in terms of facilities,
services and reputation. Most attract an upscale clientele, including
international tourists.
Foreign tourist arrivals in India have been
hovering around 2.5 million for the last five years. In 2003, with 2.72
millions tourists, growth was at 14.3%. In calendar year 2004, foreign tourist
arrivals reached the figure of 3.37 million , showing a growth of 23.5% and
India crossed the magic figure of 3 million foreign tourists for the first time.
Foreign tourist arrivals are expected to achieve a healthy growth of 15% in
2005, reaching a figure close to 4 million tourists. Visitors include those on
business, leisure and persons of Indian origin with foreign passports. Not
included are Non-Resident Indian ( NRI ) travellers, who account for about 0.5
million each year. Similar growth is foreseen to continue for the next few
years. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) and other knowledgeable experts are
predicting that India , together with China and other countries in the
Asia-Pacific region, may achieve an average growth of 12% per annum in tourism
for many years to come.
Apart from international tourists,
there is a huge domestic tourist market in India , including business and
leisure travelers. This is estimated at some 300 millions tourists or tourist
trips a year, which may also include those traveling for social and religious
purposes. The industry expects a boom in tourism in the domestic sector in India
, and a growth of 10% to 15% over the next few years. A growth in tourism will
certainly lead to a boom in hotels and restaurants. In the last two peak seasons
of 2003-04 and 2004-2005, there was a shortage of hotel rooms in the major
cities and tourist destinations. This shortage is continuing at a more acute
level in the current peak season of 2005-06. This is already resulting in a high
level of activity in construction of hotels, and a boom in the restaurant
sector. There was modest growth of 4%-5% in the approved hotels category during
the period of 1990 to 2002. However, a steady growth of about 10% in new hotel
projects is expected for the next few years. This will naturally require the
services of more hotel managers and staff. |
