Around 1.7 bn travellers may visit India by 2021

Going by the double-digit growth of the travel industry, India is expected to have around 1.747 billion travellers by 2021, which would require 1,88,500 additional hotel rooms, according to a recent study.

"Considering the way in which travel industry has grown in the past and factoring in the government's unassuming efforts towards growth in the sector, there will be around 1.747 billion travellers and an additional requirement of 1,88,500 rooms," says a white-paper on 'Hotel Room Supply, Capital Investment and Manpower Requirement by 2021' by HVS and The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), India.

HVS is a global consulting and services organisation focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming, and leisure industries; WTTC is a forum for business leaders in the Travel & Tourism industry.

It predicts that by 2021, global travel industry would see 1,362 billion travellers, of which India is expected to account for 0.8%.

The domestic travellers will grow at 8% annually to 1.735 billion by 2021. About room requirement, the report said India would need a total of 3,51,540 rooms by 2021.

Budget hotels will be the driving force because they usually have more rooms per hotel than a first-class or luxury hotel, can be built faster and cheaper in multiple micro-markets as well as in most tier I, tier II and tier III cities, it said.

The existing stock of hotel inventory is 1,63,038 rooms, it said, adding that the Indian average room inventory is less than 15% of the average inventory of Asia Pacific and other global cities.

Capital investment and the manpower are two other critical aspects. The additional investment in hospitality in the country would be around Rs 1,27,600 crore by 2021, it said.

Over the past decade, the country has witnessed a host of global brands entering the market, while the domestic brands have also considerably grown, it said.

"This shift...Is reflective of the maturing of the Indian hotel industry and highlights the fact that the country is a prominent market," the white-paper said.

With the proposed expansion of branded hotels, the demand for skilled manpower will grow to 2,84,386 by 2021, it said.