The flavour of the season seems to be turning sour - at least for a growing lot of tourists and tour operators across the globe. The growing gap between increase in in-bound tourist traffic and availability of hotel rooms has led to room rents touching an all-time high, blunting India's attractiveness as a cost -effective tourist destination.
In Delhi alone, average room rates is hovering in the region of $310-350 a night, while it has already scaled past the $350-mark in Mumbai and over $500 in Bangalore. In comparison, a decent luxury hotel in Bangkok can be booked for around $100 a night.
The result: A growing number of tour operators in the western world are beginning to stop hardselling India as an ideal vacation destination this winter - a peak travel season among foreigners. And industry insiders say operators are asking hotels to revise rates else India would vanish from overseas travel brochures for next winter. "Most of these package rates are booked a year in advance so that operators can prepare their brochures for next year. We are already getting complaints from operators abroad that India is out-pricing itself, which may force them to black-out India from 2007 brochures," says an industry source.
UK-based tour operators have even shot-off emails to Indian agents saying the 2007 rates are too high to be acceptable to the travelling public. "At these rates, can we continue to sell India effectively?" The domestic travel industry blames it on non-availability of enough rooms to meet the growing demand. "Room rates are climbing every year as demand far exceeds supply," says Kuoni India in-bound COO Himmant Anand. "The room rates are already at an all-time high, and by the looks of it, the rates are only going to head northwards next year," he adds.
Occupancy levels at most hotels, insiders say, today average at around 80-85% through the year. And the future only looks brighter, thanks to the host of conferences and trade shows beings hosted in the city. The growing corporate activity in the country -which resulted in higher corporate travel -ensures that all hotels are choc-a-block even during lean travel months. And this, in turn, ensures that room rates keep climbing all through the year.
Unless corrected, this steady climb in room rates, industry watchers warn, may force firms to relook at their travel plans and use video-conferencing facilities for conducting business in India. But the hospitality industry feels there's no cause for concern not yet. "Tourist arrival figures into India have not shown any decline as yet. Even this year, we have seen a 15-20% rise in arrivals despite room rates climbing an average 20% every season," says ITC Maurya Sheraton's Deepak Haksar.
The fact that India's pulling power as a destination still rules strong, says Pradeep Kalra, V-P (Sales & marketing) at Sarovar Hotels, will ensure that tourists keep flocking the destination. And the climbing rates will also help upgrade the profile of travellers to India. "It's high time, India looked at upgrading the profile of tourists who come to the country. We have for long been attracting backpackers. Now, the high rates will ensure that we get more premium and hi-end travellers, " he adds.
