Improved tourist sentiment leads to marginal hike in hotel tariff

Goa tops with 12% rise in tariffs, rates in Pune & Mumbai decline

Helped by an increase in foreign tourist movement, the first half of this financial year saw a marginal increase of 4 per cent in hotel room rates across the country, according to a report 'Hotel Price Index' by Hotels.com, an international online hotel booking portal.

While the average price per night of the hotels grew by 4 percent to Rs 6,285, it was varied widely across destinations. Goa recorded the highest rise of 12 percent to Rs 5,873 whereas the rate for Pune and Mumbai fell by 7 percent and 3 percent to Rs 5,027 and Rs 7,694 respectively.

Mumbai continues to have the highest rate despite a decrease followed by Delhi and Calcutta.

Tier 2 and tier 3 cities are also becoming a favorite among foreign traveller. The report shows an increase of rate in hotels in those cities. While rate in Cochin increased by 3 percent to Rs 5,295, Jaipur registered an increase of 5 percent to Rs 4,888 respectively.

"The increase in rates of tier 2 cities may be driven by various measures such as the introduction of international airports at Jaipur and Kochi that offer better connection. As we see a large majority of traveller visiting Rajasthan arrive in Jaipur as the entry point. Kochi International Airport is also well connected to the Middle-East which may attracts higher number of travellers from Europe," said Zoe Chan, Head of PR, Asia Pacific, Hotels.com.

There have been an increase of 5 percent in foreign tourists due to the positive mood of business in the country. According to the report, significant measures in this year's budget helped the tourism industry of the country. These include introduction of electronic visas at nine airports and the abolition of the service tax on inbound holiday packages.

"Definitely there is a positive mood, there have been an increase of bookings by foreign tourists have gone by up by almost 12- 13 percent," said Gour Kanjilal, executive director, IATO.

The number of hotels for FY14 rose to 814, showing a 13.5 per cent growth year-on-year, compared to 717 hotels with a growth of 30.1 per cent in FY13. The number of branded hotel rooms stood at 103,855 for FY14 and it is expected to touch 150,702 by FY19. The tourism sector's contribution to the GDP is expected to rise to 7.3 per cent in 2014, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council's economic impact report for India.