Hotel industry continues to face a muted revenue growth, stagnated profitability and elevated credit risk in FY15, driven by lower demand growth and supply—side pressures, an India Ratings & Research (Ind—Ra) report said.

The agency expects major hotel companies to register revenue growth of 5 to 10 per cent in FY15 due to sluggish demand in the near term. This is in line with the trend in 9MFY14 and FY13, where weak macroeconomic conditions led to muted growth in business travellers and foreign tourist arrivals.

Corporate travellers are key demand drivers for hotels as they account for around 60 per cent of guests.

Ind—Ra also expects profitability for major companies to remain stagnant at around 20 per cent as the demand slowdown has stressed occupancy and average room rate (ARRs), limiting the ability of hotel companies to pass on an increase in input costs.

Ind—Ra’s analysis indicates that profitability of hotel companies declined by 1—3 percentage points in both 9MFY14 and FY13 primarily due to inflationary pressures, mainly higher food and fuel costs, and inability of companies to pass on such pressures due to weak demand.

According to Ind—Ra’s analysis, credit metrics of hotel companies have showed a downward trend since FY08. Several companies which have implemented aggressive debt—led capex in the past are finding it difficult to manage their overleveraged balance sheets and have thus cut back on expansion plans and resorted to assets sales.

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