India’s travel and tourism industry is one of them most lucrative businesses in the country, and also accredited with contributing a considerable volume of foreign exchange to the country reserves. The World Travel and Tourism Council predicted that the India has the potential to become the number one tourist destination in the world with the demand growing at 10.1 percent per annum. The World Travel Organization also predicts that India will receive 25 million tourists by 2015. A number of reasons are cited as being the cause of the progress and success of India’s travel and tourism sector. Economic growth has added millions annually to the ranks of India’s middle class, a group that is driving domestic tourism growth. Thanks in part to its booming IT and outsourcing industry a growing number of business trips are made by foreigners to India, who will often add a weekend break or longer holiday to their trip. Foreign tourists spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide.
Hotels in India are broadly classified into 7 categories by the Ministry of Tourism based on the general features and facilities offered and the ratings are reviewed every five years.
Hotel category | No. of Hotels | No. of Rooms |
5 star deluxe/5 star | 165 | 43, 965 |
4 Star | 134 | 20, 770 |
3 Star | 505 | 30,100 |
2 Star | 495 | 22,950 |
1 Star | 260 | 10,900 |
Heritage | 70 | 4,200 |
Uncategorized | 7,078 | - |
Total | 8,707 | 1,32,885 |
The above table clearly shows the void of 5 star accommodations in India. The state of New York alone has over 800 5 star hotels. This means that even though India has major attractions such as the world's highest mountains, miles of coastline with excellent beaches, tropical forests and wildlife, desert safari, lagoon backwaters, ancient monuments, forts and palaces, adventure tourism and, of course, the Taj Mahal, India currently cannot accommodate enough tourists in luxury.
However, the country is witnessing an unprecedented growth in hotel constructions and will be adding almost 114,000 hotel guest rooms to its inventory over the next five years. The earlier setbacks in global tourism have strengthened the Department of Tourism's resolve to promote India's tourism through aggressive marketing strategies through its campaign 'Incredible India'. The 'marketing mantra' for the Department of Tourism is to position India as a global brand to take advantage of the burgeoning global travel and trade and the vast untapped potential of India as a destination.
There are several challenges in the sector and the biggest of them all is to improve the image of India as a brand. India is prone to socio-economic and political conditions that can turn ugly. Terrorist strikes, riots, epidemics, political instability and fiascos, slowdown in economic reforms etc. hamper the brand image. One way to overcome this is by allowing international players to set foot and build Aman Resorts, Shangri- Las, Four Seasons and Hiltons, the names of which are sure enough to draw tourists in the belief that the stay will not be compromised irrespective of the conditions outside. And when it comes to exotic destinations, India is becoming an increasingly popular choice for travelers.