The hospitality industry is seeing an unprecedented and elongated boom. And 2006 appears to see this boom continuing. A new array of facilities and new rate structures are in the offing in the new financial year to secure higher occupancy levels.
With an occupancy level of 98.03 per cent in the month of February, Trident Hilton in Gurgaon clearly established itself as the most preferred choice among the discerning international travellers this winter. With the new year seeing a catalogue of back-to-back high-profile events in the NCR — Auto Expo, Defence Expo, French President Chirac’s visit, President Bush’s visit and now the Australian Prime Minister, this was only expected. Also in the same alignment of hotels in the NCR are Shangri-La and ITC Maurya which also registered a boom in the winter months.
Even though the month of December witnessed a sharp decline in the average occupancy rate in
the five star hotels in Delhi, the total RevPAR for them in the winter months was much beyond expectations.
Giving a reason for the growing RevPAR, General Manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Andrew Quinlan says, “Delhi being the Indian capital is one of the most attractive tourist destinations. It offers a multitude of interesting places and attractions to the visitor and is also a gateway into reaching various other places in the country.” He also say that with the acceleration of the Indian economy, of late NCR has witnessed a major travel boom which hopefully should be a persistent feature of 2006 as well.
{{/usCountry}}Giving a reason for the growing RevPAR, General Manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Andrew Quinlan says, “Delhi being the Indian capital is one of the most attractive tourist destinations. It offers a multitude of interesting places and attractions to the visitor and is also a gateway into reaching various other places in the country.” He also say that with the acceleration of the Indian economy, of late NCR has witnessed a major travel boom which hopefully should be a persistent feature of 2006 as well.
{{/usCountry}}Hotels in New Delhi have grown by over 35 per cent in overall revenues in the winter as compared to the previous year where growth was primarily in the average room rates. Average room rate was highest in Trident Hilton going upto Rs 14,750.
A combination of business and leisure travellers is taking the top hospitality majors to the next level of competence. The NCR has also become a hub for business activities. Referring to the customers the hotels cater to, Maurya Sheraton General Manager, Deepak Haksar says, “Delhi is the way point to travel destinations like Jaipur and Agra. Maurya does get many leisure residents for its hotel, however if we do get them, they are usually premium high-end consumers.”
Projected to be visited by four million travellers in 2006, Indian industry is now thinking in terms of ramping up occupancy levels, and to reach the goal, hotels like Shangri-la, Hilton and ITC group have given high priority to their customers. In fact, this has led the foreign tourists category visiting India during January and February experience an increase of about 15.1 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year.