Hospitality Design - January/February 2012 - 76

INDIA

a (widening) passage to india
By Alia Akkam
Incredible !ndia, the global advertising campaign spearheaded by India’s Ministry of Tourism, launched a decade ago, introducing the country’s diverse colors, cuisine, and architecture to a high-end tourist demographic. While no simple tagline can capture India’s vastness, history, or nuanced cultures, the alliterative praise worked. Visitors were no longer coming solely for a lazy beach getaway in Goa or to pay homage to the Taj Mahal in Agra but to see authentic Bhangra dances, ﬁnd serenity in yoga ashrams, and feast on lovingly made curries. A growing afﬁnity for Bollywood put Mumbai on the map, while Bangalore’s reputation as an information technology epicenter carved a signiﬁcant business market. In the capital, New Delhi, great strides in transportation increased the importance of satellite cities such as Gurgaon. After grappling with recession challenges in 2008, compounded by a lag in tourism because of the series of coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai, India’s hospitality future is now quite bright. According to the 2011 Hotels in India Trends & Opportunities report, prepared by Gurgaonbased HVS Global Hospitality Services, over the past 10 years the supply of rooms increased by 187.2 percent. By 2015/2016, room supply is expected to increase by 43.2 percent from 2010/2011. Although occupancy rates slightly dropped, the report conﬁrms, room supply grew by nearly 15 percent in 2010/2011, and nationwide occupancy grew by 1.7 percent over that of 2009/2010. As the report forecasts, growth in occupancy, despite a double-digit growth in supply, signals the strength of the hospitality industry in India. performer in the nation’s changing face. Every player has realized the potential across segments and therefore is bringing multiple brands, each of which targets a different segment. The brand play is across the hospitality spectrum and at every price point.” Casse’s comment is underscored by HVS’ report, which notes how in 2010 the luxury and upscale tier constituted 50 percent of the total new supply expected to enter the market in the next ﬁve years, but “in 2011 this number has dropped to 45 percent giving way to increased development in the midmarket and budget space. In our opinion, this bodes well for the hotel market at large, as not only will it serve the rising domestic middle class, but also the international one, as it will improve the affordability of India as a destination.” Consider Hyatt, whose Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, and Park Hyatt brands are already in operation, with Andaz, Hyatt House, and Hyatt Place properties—the latter’s ﬁrst venture outside the U.S—in development. “Our research in India told us that the mid-segment sector lacked consistency and the drop from the 5-Star luxury category to the next level was signiﬁcant. In some cities, after the 5-Star option, the

Pipeline Dreams
By 2015, Accor plans to be the leading international hotel operator in India. Says Jean-Michel Casse, senior vice president operations, Accor India, “We have a goal of ninety hotels and twenty thousand rooms by 2015. Our global focus is to position Accor hotels in India as the hospitality benchmark.” This year Accor plans to launch three new brands in the country: luxurious Soﬁtel in Mumbai, upscale Pullman in Gurgaon, and budget Formule 1 (now Ibis Budget) in Greater Noida. Most recently, Accor unveiled the Novotel Visaphapatnam Varun Beach with panoramic views of the Bay of Bengal. “Opportunities in India are extraordinary. India’s hospitality scenario is set to change forever,” predicts Casse. “Combining unparalleled growth prospects and unlimited business potential, this industry is certainly on the verge of being a key

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