New Delhi With the lifting of restrictions on international travel, the leisure and travel industry is expecting a higher influx of international tourists as well as an increase in domestic travel.
“We expect revenue to grow by 10-15% in the October-December quarter including inbound passengers, with international travel norms relaxed. While we do not see inbound tourism as a significant contributor to holiday bookings such as pre-pandemic times, growth in inbound business will come from meetings and incentives for our AeroCity property and is being driven by travelers from the Middle East and the US . Kush Kapoor, chief executive officer of Bird Group-owned Roseate Hotels & Resorts.
The company is also expecting significant in-house bookings for weddings, off-site and conferences at its properties. “The domestic demand for inbound travel has built up and in fact room rates have increased,” he said.
Radisson Hotels expects more influx of international travelers to tourist destinations like Agra and Rajasthan in the next two quarters. Zubin Saxena, Managing Director and Vice President of Operations, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group said that the company will see significant growth in most of its markets. Apart from the current domestic demand, inbound tourists should start coming in, he said. People’s appetite for travel is getting stronger and businesses in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru will continue to stay strong and grow at rates.
Travel partners and agencies at The Taj Hotel and Convention Center in Agra have started receiving bookings from international tourists following a drop in COVID-19 cases, fully operational international flights and increased travellers’ confidence.
“Hopefully, international tourism combined with wedding season sales will lift us out of the quagmire of loss the pandemic has thrown at us. Most of the inbound tourists are from the US, Germany and Spain,” said Paritosh Ladhani, joint managing director, Senior Developers, the company that owns Taj, Agra. Within six months, it expects 30% of its business to be international. Traffic will come from around 60% in the same period of FY20.
Hotels in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR are likely to see more occupancy over the next three months as corporate events, weddings and festivities resume. With no restrictions on capacity, Delhi may see a 15% increase in travel demand ahead of Diwali, which is expected to pick up after the festive wedding season begins. Roseate Hotels & Resorts, which has two hotels in Delhi – one upscale and one luxury – is likely to see improvement in occupancy and room rates in the October-December quarter.
According to a report ‘Pulse: India’s Festive Season Outlook’ by travel technology firm RateGain, inbound arrivals in Delhi are expected to grow by around 17% and Mumbai by 4% as compared to 2019. RateGain processes electronic transactions for travel and hospitality firms.
Delhi and Mumbai are seeing an increase in arrivals from all international markets, and traffic from North America is projected to grow about 20% month-on-month through November. The report said that Thailand and Australia are seeing an average increase of about 15%, followed by Europe at about 10%.
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