'India saw maximum hotel projects under development in Jan-March 2025 in Asia Pacific region'
NEW DELHI: India saw the highest number of hotels under development in the Asia-Pacific region during Jan-March 2025 quarter, according to consultancy firm Lodging Econometrics.
With a 'new record-high project and room count of 693 projects/88,884 rooms, up 19% by projects and 27% by rooms Y-o-Y,' the country's hospitality industry is booming mainly on the strength of robust domestic tourism as international inbound remains sluggish and is yet to return to pre-Covid levels.
'India is shining, and the growth story is all domestically driven for reasons like the amount of infrastructure investment by the government that is creating accessibility and frictionless travel.
Indians are acquiring wealth, and there's a growing aspiration to travel & stay with brands. The potential to grow in India is boundless,' said Rajeev Menon, president Marriott International (Asia Pacific excluding China).
The number of branded hotel rooms in India crisis segments could rise by almost 50% in the next 4-5 years, meaning less than 2 lakh since independence and the next half in a mere five years!
'US has well north of 50 lakh hotel rooms.
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Japan, with a population of 13 crore has 17 lakh plus hotel rooms. India still has 3-4 lakh hotel rooms (branded, estimated to be less than 2 lakh). That's why the opportunity for growth is immense. Eventually, it will land in millions as the economy continues to grow. As it transitions to the third-largest economy per capita. People are clearly prioritising travel over other expenses,' Menon said.
About Jan-March 2025 'hotel development trends', Lodging Econometrics says: 'Vietnam follows (India) with 251 projects/90,738 rooms, up 5% by projects and 7% by rooms YOY, and Thailand at 170 projects/43,730 rooms, up 6% by projects and 18% by rooms YOY.
Indonesia follows with 170 projects/29,797 rooms, and Japan with 164 projects/27,572 rooms. These five countries combined account for 70% of the projects in the region's total pipeline.
'
The Indian traveller is fast coming of age. While pre-Covid China had 15-16 crore outbound travellers, India is at 2.5-3 crore but the latter is growing very fast. 'India is still way off from taking that number one spot. But India is well on its way and is all set to take the number four or five spot.
Also, Indians are big spenders,' Menon said.
Not surprisingly, all hotel brands, Indian or foreign, are out to make the most of this trend. Marriott has the highest number of rooms in India at over 30,000 across 158 hotels across 17 brands. It has 20,500 rooms in the pipeline across 112 upcoming properties, which will open within five years. It recently
Tata's Taj Hotels has a portfolio of well over 25,000 rooms in India across 381 hotels that includes 134 under development globally.
ITC Hotels currently has over 13,300 rooms in 140 hotels. At present, ITC Hotels has over 50 properties under development with more than 4,500 rooms. By 2030, it expects to have 220 hotels with over 20,000 guest rooms. 'India is witnessing a growth cycle that is positioning new Tier II and Tier III cities on the national tourism map. With hotels opening each month across new markets and sub-locations, the branded rooms availability in the country is expected to double (from the present 195,000 rooms) over the next 5-7 years.
There remains a very good potential for new brands, new product segment based on the choice of the Indian traveller. Domestic Travel has been on the rise and ITC Hotels recognises these market trends. We continue to work with the Owner community to open hotels from the midscale to luxury brands, expanding our footprint across various geographies,' said Anil Chadha, ITC Hotels Ltd MD.
Oberoi Hotels' parent EIH Ltd has a pipeline of 21 properties to be completed by 2029, of which 12 are in India.
Leela has 13 operational hotels in India and will open seven more by March 2028, including at Ayodhya, Ranthambore and Srinagar.
Radisson Hotel Group, which currently has 131 hotels with over 14,000 rooms, has 77 properties with over 8,600 rooms under development. 'Over the next 5-6 years, we expect to add around 300 new hotels, which would take our portfolio to nearly 500 hotels by 2030. This growth will be fuelled by expansion into unexplored destinations as well as deeper penetration into metro.
The demand for quality accommodations is rising not just in the major metros but also in smaller tier 2 and tier 3 cities, thanks to improved infrastructure and a booming domestic travel market.
Equally, we're witnessing appetite for all categories of hotels – from upscale and luxury to midscale,' said K B Kachru, Radisson Hotel Group chairman (South Asia).
Not surprisingly, leading chains are adding new brands to their portfolio here to cash in on the Indian growth story.
Marriott International recently partnered with CG Hospitality, the hospitality arm of CG Corp Global, to launch 'Series by Marriott', a new collection focused on midscale and upscale travellers.
This partnership will see The Fern portfolio integrating into Marriott's global ecosystem. The Fern portfolio, currently comprising over 84 hotels, will be added to Marriott's India portfolio, making it one of the largest multi-unit deals in the country's hospitality sector.
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