Hospitality beyond the usual hotspots

India's hospitality industry is seeking to expand the frontier of tourism in the country. Most of the nation's branded hotel rooms are located in urban agglomerations, which has restricted tourism to a narrow field. Given the geographical diversity of the subcontinent, its tourism potential has been exploited timidly. This exerts undue strain on the available hospitality infrastructure where available, and leaves large parts of the country underserved. Broadening the tourism portfolio is a fallout of improvements in connectivity India is undergoing. Tourism can be the economic mainstay for several states in India that do not yet figure in choices of leisure travellers. This is for most part due to gaps in the hospitality value chain, such as upscale boarding and dining facilities in new locations.

The supply response for tourism infrastructure has tended to favour established tourist attractions or religious centres. These offer comfort over occupancy and billings, but margins are squeezed by competitive intensity. A section of the hospitality industry has now set its sights on higher returns in newer, and hence riskier, locations. The scale of India's hospitality sector permits the distribution outreach with proactive local government support to develop employment-generating pockets. It also eases the financial burden on states to spread the infrastructure bill rather than upgrade existing facilities.

Indians are on the move and the domestic hospitality industry has to battle fatigue as international tourism accelerates. The local industry needs to match service quality expectations of a growing proportion of travellers. This has to be done at internationally competitive prices. New destinations offer an easier option on both counts. Policy support is unlikely to be stinted considering the employment potential of the tourism industry. Particularly the gender-neutral profile of jobs the hospitality industry creates and the relatively lower skilling threshold than, say, manufacturing. Emerging tourist attractions also make the industry less cyclical and, thus, more sustainable. Critically, they can wean the country of its overdependence on religious tourism that operates predominantly in the informal economy.