Hospitality, tourism take baby steps towards normalcy: CII

Despite tourists returning back to hotels, resorts and hill stations gradually, experts feel that it will take around two to three years for these sectors to be fully back on track.

 Deepak Haksar, former ITC CEO-advisor, Tourism and Hospitality National Committee of CII, said tourists have started going for outings which has led to the improvement in the tourism and hospitality sector.

 He said, “There has been an increase in the number of tourists opting for domestic leisure travel. They have started visiting places Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan etc. which has increased the demand of hotels and resorts in these places. As of now the industry will have to depend on the domestic tourists only as international tourists are still restricted from travelling.”

 Haksar said the hotel business in India is driven by the demand of business travellers and tourists.

 Hotel Association of India VP and Emeritus Chairman of Radisson Group of Hotels, South Asia, KB Kachroo said situation has improved during Unlock 3 and 4 as tourists are increasing. The occupancy in big hotels was eight to nine per cent before Unlock 1 while it has now gone up to 30-35 per cent and in some of the hotels it has even gone up to 60 per cent.