a quarterly report by - Technopak

perspective
a quar terly repor t by
The Buddhist special package in its eight day trip covers Delhi, Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Varanasi, Gorakhpur,
Lumbini and Gonda.
Caravan Tourism
A new policy guideline to promote ‘Caravan Tourism’ in India and facilitate the infrastructure required for the
same would be announced. Private players will be able to ply their vehicles on selected routes, and tourists
can stay on board. There would be no need for hotels.
Wellness Tourism
A new policy guideline for promoting ‘Wellness Tourism’ in India would be announced. The policy would
aim to leverage India’s potential in traditional systems of wellness and medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha
and Yoga and to project India as a unique destination for spiritual healing. Wellness Tourism Road Shows
would also be organized in overseas markets starting with Scandinavian countries in the first phase.
Heliport Tourism
With a view to promote tourism in hilly and remote areas, guidelines would be framed to provide central
financial assistance to States and Union Territories for construction of helipads/heliports at selected
destinations which have tourism potential but lack good connectivity.
Opportunities for Investment
Hotels
India currently has around 115,000 hotel rooms spread across all the categories and is facing a shortfall of
155,000 rooms. The hospitality sector is expected to see an estimated investment of US$ 12 Bn in the next
2 years, and various new international hotel brands will break ground.
Given the current growth, demand-supply gap and investment norms (100% FDI allowed), the country
provides opportunities for International brands to enter India with a long term commitment.
For the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the government is expected to provide 10,000 budget rooms as
compared to the requirement for 40,000 to 50,000 of such rooms.
A five-star hotel room requires and investment of US$ 125,000 to US$ 210,000 compared with only US$
62,000 – US$ 83,000 for a 3 or 4-star hotel room. The further down budget hotels can have the hotel up and
running on limited services platform with an investment of US$ 31,000 for a room. The gestation period for
a 5-star property is 3 years or more, whereas a budget hotel can be up and running in well under 2 years.
The land cost should ideally by 20% to 30% of the project cost, but the trend has seen this figure touching
the new heights of 50% to 60% as well.
Tour Operators
The inbound MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) segment is growing at 15% to 20%
annually.
The government is taking active measures to create world class convention facilities to attract large- scale
meetings in India. Currently, India has only 0.3 % of the world’s MICE business and there is great potential
in showcasing India as a business as well as a leisure locale. Tour operators with an increase in the number
of tourists and destinations have more opportunities to promote places of interests within country.
Volume 02 / 2009
| Volume 02
Indian Tourism : Managing Growth by Breaking Barriers |
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