Hospitality sector in India witnesses stellar growth

With improved vaccination rates and fewer travel restrictions the Indian hospitality industry is currently on an upward trend, with traveler confidence. The Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) witnessed a growth of 100.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) in Q4, 2021. The quarterly RevPAR of Q4 (October-December) was at 41.9 percent, according to JLL's Hotel Momentum India (HMI) Q4, 2021. Whilst the latter part of Q4 started to witness some impact from the Omicron wave, last quarter (Q4, 2021) was largely the best performing period of the last year bolstered by long weekends, holidays during festivals and social gatherings. Business travel also resumed albeit in low numbers in some markets. The last quarter of 2021 (Q4 2021) also witnessed a significant increase in international arrivals as compared to the same time in the previous year.

Improved confidence in the minds of travelers due to the high vaccination rates achieved by the nation. | Unsplash

"Hotel performances across major cities in India witnessed stellar growth in Q4 2021 before the onset of the third wave of the pandemic. Corporate travel started to witness a recovery on the back of improved confidence in the office sector as commercial real estate witnessed the highest net absorption rate over the last eight quarters. Furthermore, staycations, long weekend leisure demands, weddings, and social gatherings continued to remain the base business for the hospitality sector. Improved road infrastructure particularly to hill destinations has given impetus to road travel. This immediate recovery would not have been possible without improved confidence in the minds of travelers due to the high vaccination rates achieved by the nation. The hospitality sector is likely to recover well in 2022 even as uncertainty around different Covid variants and waves continue," said Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels and Hospitality Group, South Asia, JLL.

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The next two quarters are expected to witness growth in airline and rail travel and provide impetus to hotel performances as the current wave subsides. The domestic segment will continue to drive demand for both corporate and leisure travel. As restrictions against social gatherings ease, the social MICE (Meetings Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) segment will improve to provide much-needed business to the industry going forward. The total number of hotel signings in Q4 of 2021 stood at 85 hotels with 7,347 keys. The hotel signings witnessed a significant increase of 81.9 percent as compared to signings in Q4 2020. Domestic operators dominated signings over international operators with a ratio of 52:48 in terms of inventory volume. (IANS/SP)

(Keywords: India, hospitality, industry, growth, airline, rail, travel, vaccination, pandemic, improve, hotel, travelers, festival, holiday, weekend, weddings, business.)