Forecasts from the World Travel and Tourism Council predict overall business travel spending in India will rise by 8.8 percent a year between 2011 and 2021 ? growing from $26 billion to $72 billion.
An increase of?high-end travelers?to the country is one incentive, but the main reason is India?s rising global importance to the business community, hotel executives and travel analysts say.
?Like China, India is shaping up to be one of the main growth engines in the world, and as India?s economy continues to grow, business travel into and within India will expand,? said Christopher Wong, regional vice president of development for Four Seasons in Asia.
Recent figures support that prediction: According to the government?s Ministry of Tourism, there were around 270,000 business travelers to India in 2007. That number jumped to more than a million in 2010.
Part of the growth comes from American companies adding outsourcing and back office operations in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai, according to Adam Weissenberg, vice chairman of Deloitte and leader of the company?s travel sector. This is resulting in a boon for high-end hotel brands seeking to build properties in India, he said because outsourcing often involves high-end business travelers going to India from the West who expect luxury accommodations.
As the number of middle-income families going on domestic vacations and business travellers on a tight budget keeps rising, international hoteliers are rushing in to capture the mid-market segment bridging the gap between luxury and budget hotels in India.
The concept of mid-market hotels is relatively new to India. Industry experts say there exists a whole range of tourists between the budget travellers and the well-heeled.
The bulk of leisure travellers are from the middle class and a large proportion of corporate travellers in India is mid-level executives. They want all the trappings of a luxury hotel but at an affordable price.
IHG has signed a joint venture with Duet India Hotels Group (DIHL) to develop 19 new Holiday Inn Express hotels in more than 12 key cities by 2016 to cater to this segment.??We have taken 24 percent equity stake, making a multi-year investment of $30 million into the partnership,? said Moloney.
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