The hospitality industry in India needs to add a further 1.8 lakh rooms to meet the demand from foreign tourists, according to Vivek Nair, President, the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI).

“This is a humongous task because, right now, we only have 1.2 lakh guest rooms in the country, right from one-star to five-star deluxe categories. And, those catering to foreign tourists are only about 70,000 (three-star to five-star category). This is even less than what Manhattan has and half of what Bangkok has,” Nair said.

With an average investment cost of Rs 50 lakh a room, the hospitality industry is looking at an investment of Rs 90,000 crore in the next five years, he added.

According to Ministry of Tourism estimates, foreign tourist arrivals in India grew by 6 per cent until November 2012. During January-November 2012, around 6 million tourists visited India against 5.5 million in 2011. The Ministry of Tourism aims to increase foreign tourist arrivals to 11 million by 2016.

Hospitality industry players say that, for a country of India’s potential, these are meagre numbers. “Malaysia and Indonesia get 12 million and 14 million foreign tourists, respectively, while Dubai crossed 12 million this year. Egypt had 4 million tourists visiting just its beaches, apart from the other historical sights, and Turkey has crossed 35 million foreign tourist arrivals,” said Nair, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of the Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts.

> nivedita.ganguly@thehindu.co.in

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