|
Taking a rain check
 While
the hospitality industry in India has a positive outlook for the year ahead,
the spiraling oil prices threaten to put a spoke in this good cheer. Corporate
houses are curbing non-essential travel and holiday makers are taking a rain
check on their vacations, adversely impacting the hotel industry.
Consider the US, where leisure destinations and smaller cities are feeling the
heat with a cutback in flight services. American hotels too are getting the
short end of the stick and, in fact, have altered their revenue outlook for
the year and are renegotiating rates with corporate houses.
Hoteliers in India therefore need to exercise caution while assessing their
revenue outlook in the given scenario. Fortunately, it's that time of the year
when we feature corporate czars from hospitality and its allied industries who
give their perspective on how they see the industry grow in View from the Top.
This coincides with HospitalityWorld 2008, the country's largest B2B hospitality
trade show organised by Express Hospitality and the Indian Express Group to
be held in Bengaluru between June 19 and 21 at KTPO. New attractions this year
include a Wine Appreciation Forum, Spa & Wellness World Pavilion, Chefs'
Lounge and an executive committee meeting of SICA.
The city of Bengaluru will be perfect for the expo given that it is a hotbed
for hotel development. In the next couple of years, many new and established
international brands will make their debut in the city, and in some instances
the country such as Movenpick Hotels & Resorts and Starwood's aloft. Room
inventory will also increase as existing hotel brands expand their presence
in the Garden City.
Coming back to the chieftains and their verdict on the times to come, their
prognosis is positive. As Western markets get saturated for development and
as domestic tourism takes off in India, despite a few well-voiced drawbacks
such as lack of land availability and infrastructure, all voices say in unison
that India is a place where all their brands should be present. With new supply
coming into cities, rates will stabilise and perhaps even come down, depending
on the supply-demand gap. Nevertheless, as much as we would like to see a dip
in oil prices, it just might border on wishful thinking.
Reema Sisodia
Editor
editorial.eh@expressindia.com
|
