January has shown “accelerated” demand for both leisure and corporate travel across India, and corporate travel is peaking in the major metros and tier-two and three markets, with strong demand coming in from pharma, automotive, financial services, and IT sectors, said Zubin Saxena, managing director and vice president of operations for South Asia at Radisson Hotel Group.
“Overall, we expect that 2023 would set new performance benchmarks for India’s hospitality ecosystem,” Saxena said, adding that “there is visible enthusiasm for traveling, especially road trips”, and that weddings have emerged as big reunions for family and friends.
Nikhil Sharma, regional director for Eurasia at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts said the pace in the period from January to March 2023 looks positive as compared with the same period in the previous year, with an approximately 200% jump in room nights and similar positive signs in revenue for the chain.
“2022 was a year of resilience and recovery for both Wyndham and the hospitality industry overall. We are expecting further recovery to be highlighted this year as we hope to achieve or surpass 2019 levels,” he said. “Although global economic impacts may have some effect this year, travel is currently relatively unaffected, so we feel hopeful that we will continue to see a further uptick.”
The third Covid wave in January last year had led to a temporary blip in business for the sector.
Besides India’s G20 presidency driving demand for hotels, project-related work is also boosting travel, said Sudeep Jain, MD, South West Asia at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). “But the demand is still driven by domestic travel and is outstripping supply,” he said.
Properties in markets such as Nainital, Rishikesh, Corbett and Haridwar touched historic highs in occupancy and rates that were seen before last year, said Vibhas Prasad, director of the Leisure Hotels Group which operates properties in states such as Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
