Check-in time for hotel industry

New Delhi: Business travel has come to the rescue of the hotel industry, which is crawling its way out of the economic slump. Not only have the top luxury properties reported an occupancy of 50-75%, they have also seen an 85% improvement in revenue position. A Ficci study on the impact of the slowdown on the hotel industry—'Survey on Hotel Industry: Putting the Tourism Downturn Behind'— has found that with the global economy showing signs of improvement, foreign tourist arrivals, particularly those who travel on business, are picking up. Corporate travel too has shown signs of revival.      Significantly, within the leisure, business and leisure and business hotel categories, it is the segment where a large proportion of hotels have seen occupancy of about 50-75% over the last six months.      The survey—based on responses from 100 hotels in different categories of turnover from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1,400 crore—shows that a majority of the five-star and five-star deluxe hotels have reported an occupancy level of about 50-75% over the last six months. In terms of revenue position, players largely from the five-star and five-star deluxe categories have reported improvement over the past six months.      While close to 40% of the hotels from the five-star category have seen an improvement in revenue position, a whopping 85% of the hotels from the five-star deluxe segment have seen an improvement in revenues over the last two quarters. In comparison, budget hotels (two- and threestar) are still waiting to see some improvement as they depend largely on domestic tourists and a different segment of income earning foreign tourist.      "Tourist flows on account of both these categories are still limited and it will take some more time for these to pick up. With concerns about employment prospects and job security still looming large, many casual, leisure and holiday travellers have cut down on their discretionary spending and this is getting reflected directly in tourist arrivals,'' the study says.      The study reveals that the Indian hotel industry, which was hit badly due to the slowdown, is now on a recovery path. While nearly 40% of the hoteliers said that the current performance of their industry is moderately to substantially better vis-a-vis the last six months, nearly 75% feel the industry's performance would improve in the next six months.      As the peak season draws near, hotels will step up marketing efforts both in India and abroad. Greater emphasis would clearly be on the domestic market. India has 500 million strong domestic tourists per annum and these would be the focus of marketing strategies of hotels across all segments.      The 5.43 million foreign tourists who come to India will get attention but not to the extent domestic tourists would.