The hotels and travel trade expects occupancies in business hotels to ramp up from March-April 2021 onwards as companies gradually lift travel embargo.

Furthermore, domestic leisure travel is also expected to continue to drive occupancies across the country and food and beverage (F&B) demand will continue to grow as eating out increases, albeit cautiously.

“We are already seeing signs of domestic business travel pick up in the new year and expect occupancies in hotels to come around March-April 2021 onwards, as companies gradually lift travel embargo,” said Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels and Hospitality Group, South Asia, JLL.

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He further said, “We also expect investment activity to restart with serious investors evaluating quality assets on the back of performance cycle uptick.”

Talking about the hospitality industry, Dang quoting from JLL’s Hotel Momentum India (HMI) Q4 2020, a quarterly hospitality sector monitor, said, it witnessed a decline of 54.9 per cent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) during January to December (CY 2020) compared to CY 2019. With the revival of domestic travel, emergence of recovery indicators has come to the rescue of the sector. The recovery of the sector has been primarily driven by leisure ‘revenge travel’ during weekends, festival season, weddings and demand for F&B.

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On hotel room inventory, the total number of signings in Q4 2020 stood at 45 hotels comprising 4,326 keys, recording a decline of 43.6 per cent, compared to the same period last year. International operators dominated signings over domestic operators with a ratio of 57:43 in terms of inventory volume.

Goa grew to be the RevPAR leader in absolute terms, despite a decline of RevPAR by 33.3 per cent in Q4 2020. Demand for domestic leisure travel amidst international travel restrictions made Goa the fastest recovering market in absolute terms. Bengaluru saw the sharpest decline of 77 per cent in RevPAR in Q4 2020 compared to the same period previous year. “However, the city witnessed a month-on-month growth in performance during the last quarter of 2020,” revealed JLL’s Hotel Momentum India (HMI) Q4 2020.

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