India convention industry to fuel growth in foreign tourist arrivals

By Divesh Gupta New Delhi Global hospitality consulting firm HVS International has projected that foreign tourist arrivals in India will reach 3.4 million and foreign exchange earnings from tourism will be US$4.56 billion by the end of 2004 in its latest publication 'Hotels in India — Trends and Opportunities', released in October. The survey, including data provided by the Ministry of Tourism, says an important development is the Government's decision to treat convention centres as part of core infrastructure, allowing Government funding for the large capital investment required. The Government has also identified Delhi, Mumbai and Goa as key markets to develop convention centres. The research, which involves 211 hotels, states that the number of arrivals from abroad will increase by 27.5 per cent in comparison to 2003. The foreign exchange earnings in 2003 were US$3.6 billion. Among major cities, New Delhi is the only city expected to witness growth in total arrivals in 2004 (from 30.8 per cent to 31 per cent), whereas arrivals for Mumbai (24.1 per cent to 23.5) and Chennai (10.5 per cent to 10), will decrease marginally. Kolkata is predicted to remain unchanged at 3.7 per cent. Twenty eight regional airports in smaller towns are set to be upgraded, and are slated to be completed by 2006. HVS noted that demand for rooms grew by 18 per cent and is growing at 15 to 20 per cent in the current fiscal year. Another 65,000 to 80,000 rooms are to be added to India's capacity in the next five years. Currently, there are about 40,000 rooms under planning or construction.