Hotel room rates seen rising 7%, Goa becomes 20% costlier

Fall in rupee in 2012 helped boost domestic tourism as holidaymakers stayed at home instead of travelling abroad

Owing to stability of demand in the hospitality sector coupled with higher domestic tourism, India has seen an average rise of seven per cent for a night's stay in the country. The national average for one night's stay stood at Rs 6,141 in last year. Travellers’ den like Goa saw it jumping up by 20 per cent to Rs 5,499 compared to the previous year while Bombay and Delhi witnessed a jump of 5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively to reach at Rs 8,088 and Rs6,871.

The report suggested that in 2012, the fall in the value of the rupee in 2012 helped to increase domestic tourism numbers as holidaymakers preferred to stay at home rather than visit more expensive destinations abroad.

In addition, the extension of the Visa on Arrival policy had a positive impact and there was an influx of foreign visitors, with the majority coming from the United States and the United Kingdom. As a result, occupancy rates rose so there was less need for hotels to discount, in spite of all the new hotel openings, particularly in the mid-market range. Many hotels in the country are still under construction and some of them were in the slow growth lane and that had a positive effect on the demand going up, indicated sector experts.

According to Sudhir Sinha, COO at Best Western, a global giant in hotel management services, said that the marginal rise was need of the hour to survive in the industry.

"Demand has gone up in some places, but overall it has stabilized which is a good indication. To keep the momentum going this kind of rise was needed,” said Sinha.

India’s two largest cities occupied two of the top three places in the price table with Mumbai at the top at Rs 8,088 after a 5 per cent rise and Delhi on Rs 6,871, up 10 per cent in third place. Sandwiched between them was Udaipur on Rs 7,683 despite a three per cent fall. Kolkata, the city of Joy known for being a tourism stunner, also witnessed a fall in average price by three per cent at Rs 6168.

Amongst the other Asian destinations. Hong Kong had both the highest average rate at Rs 11,456 and the highest increase of 39 per cent. China was another strong performer, growing 30 per cent to Rs 5,306, Vietnam gained 28 per cent to Rs 5,624 and Sri Lanka saw a 20 per cent growth to Rs 10,128. Malaysia rose 15 per cent to Rs 5,966 and Cambodia reached Rs 4,910 after a 13 per cent increase. Only Nepal was down two per cent  to Rs 3,430 becoming the country for which Indian travellers paid the least.

Globally, there were sharp rises too in several European destinations. With its strong economy, Germany experienced the strongest 25 per cent growth, reaching Rs 9,166 and neighbouring Austria was up 20 per cent to Rs 7,869. In the second place in the price table, Switzerland was the country in the region where Indian travellers paid the most at Rs 10,819 after a 4 per cent rise. The United Kingdom added 12 per cent to Rs 10,112.