Hotels clock 100% YoY growth in RevPar in last qtr of Calendar 2021: JLL

Indian hospitality industry is currently on a positive upward trajectory with traveller confidence backed by improved vaccination rates, and ease of travel restrictions, says JLL paper

Hotels ended the calendar year 2021 on a positive note. A high occupancy during the Christmas and New Year holidays helped India’s hospitality sector clock a Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) growth of 100.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q4, 2021, according to JLL’s Hotel Momentum India (HMI), released on Monday. It also rose 41.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter

The Indian hospitality industry is currently on a positive upward trajectory with traveller confidence backed by improved vaccination rates, and ease of travel restrictions, it said.

Even as the latter part of the quarter saw some impact of the Omicron wave, it was the best performing period of the last calendar year. It was bolstered by long weekends, holidays during festivals, and social gatherings. Business travel also resumed albeit in low numbers in some markets. The last quarter also saw a significant pick up in international arrivals as compared to the same time in the previous year, said JLL.

The next two quarters are expected to witness growth in airline and rail travel and provide impetus to hotel performances as the current wave subsides.  The domestic segment will continue to drive demand for both corporate and leisure travel, according to JLL.

As restrictions against social gatherings ease, the social MICE (Meetings Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) segment will improve to provide much-needed business to the industry going forward.

The total number of hotel signings in Q4 of 2021 stood at 85 hotels with 7,347 keys. The hotel signings witnessed a significant increase of 81.9 per cent as compared to signings in Q4 2020. Domestic operators dominated signings over international operators with a ratio of 52:48 in terms of inventory volume.

Improved road infrastructure particularly to hill destinations has given impetus to road travel, Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels and Hospitality Group, South Asia, JLL said in the statement.

This immediate recovery would not have been possible without improved confidence in the minds of travellers due to the high vaccination rates achieved by the nation, said Dang. The hospitality sector is likely to recover well in 2022 even as uncertainty around different Covid variants and waves continue, he added.