Manav Thadani’s Hotelivate has collaborated with CAPA and WTTC to produce a composite picture of Indian travel and tourism; an elaborate effort that shows what can be achieved through cooperation among India’s associations and research agencies. The answer is The Ultimate Travel and Hospitality Report, that has quite a few firsts to its credit.
The overall size of the travel cake is largely dependent upon the growing power of Indian traveler, both for domestic and outbound; the inbound space is said to be reducing in terms of pure leisure numbers. Domestic demand is contributing as much as 87% of the total travel and tourism visitor spending in the country.
India received a meagre 10.04 million international tourists, excluding NRIs, which was another 5.5 million, representing 0.77% of the world’s total arrivals. The report points that inbound has not been a success story as among our top ten source markets, India’s share of their outbound has been shrinking, as a percentage of their growing total. Domestic has been pegged at 1.65 billion, a most resilient component in the midst of global uncertainties. The size of the outbound market has grown to an impressive 24 million in 2017, growing at more than 9.5%, and a number that is more than double of the inbound!
It has looked extensively at the hospitality industry, stressed upon not limiting itself to hotels, and looking at the unorganized sector for the first time, creating a first time chapter on OYO, pointing out how the hotel industry could no longer look upon OYO as simply an aggregator, but a meaningful player adding new brands of its own. It also mentions how the rules of engagement in the contracting world are changing, how online travel is penetrating the business, and highlights cities that will grow the others in the next few years.
A concise report, holistically presenting the Big Picture, a must read for every professional in the industry. Even more so, a most useful document for the opinion and policy makers in government, to make them understand the growing might and contribution of travel and tourism to the national economy.
