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Nina Varghese

Mr P.K. Mohankumar, Chief Operating Officer, Oriental Hotels Ltd.

CHENNAI, Sept.16

THE hospitality industry, especially the five-star segment, is going through a period of flux. The focus of the industry is shifting from the premium leisure market in the West to the new emerging markets of Oceania, SAARC countries and the top end of the domestic market.

This is the Plan B that Mr P.K. Mohankumar, Chief Operating Officer, Oriental Hotels (a Taj group company), advocates to prop up the industry and bring back the tourists. In the past two years, many events had happened which had a negative impact on the hospitality sector

Mr Mohankumar said that a large portion of the in-bound traffic from the affluent West had dried up — not just the tour groups, but also the individual travellers. The drop in the numbers to the southern region had been around 35 to 40 per cent, he added.

He said that one way to get out of the rut that the industry was in, especially in the South, was to market the entire southern region as a destination to people in the North, in the neighbouring countries and in Australia and New Zealand. These are the new emerging markets for the southern region.

Mr Mohankumar said that in his experience most people who take a holiday want to fit in at least three of four destinations on one trip. Every destination in the South is a silo and a potential tourist even from the North would find it difficult to access any other part of southern India.

He said that one should go a step further and come out with packages in collaboration with neighbouring countries, for instance the Indian Ocean Rim package, which could be tied up between Sri Lanka, Maldives and Kerala. The infrastructure is in place — companies like the Taj have properties in all these places; Indian Airlines and Air Lanka fly to these destinations. However, the negotiations for such a package should be on a Government-to-Government level, he added.

Mr Mohankumar said that there should be a single window where the South is sold. At present, there are no comprehensive packages, which tie up airline or train connectivity with the hotels, he said. Ideally all arms of the industry must come under a common authority that has executive powers.

Marketing and promotional activity was another area that the Government must leave to private sector professionals, he said. India is being promoted in a traditional way. But the new emerging feeder markets such as China, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have to be tapped. Once these target audiences are identified through extensive research, then promotion has to be done to bring them in. Another category of tourists that has not been catered to is the non-resident Indian (NRI). These NRIs were also keen to see more of the country, he said.

Talking about the industry in general, Mr Mohankumar said that the low occupancy had resulted in all classes of hotels, even the top end hotels, playing the volumes game. Taj, for instance, has come out with attractive packages and also a tie-up with Indian Airlines. The hotels should concentrate on those staying for a long time and seriously look at the conferences segment, he said.

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