Leading star hotels in the city are set to bear the brunt of the global economic meltdown with the occupancy levels and revenues in these hotels expected to drop by 15-20 per cent in the peak tourism season of 2008-09 as compared to last year.
“We are expecting a slide in our occupancy levels and revenues during the peak tourism season of this fiscal and expect an occupancy rate in the range of 70-75 per cent as compared to 90 per cent occupancy last year. The slide in occupancy levels can be attributed to the economic downturn and to an extent on the communal violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district which is going to impact the arrival of leisure tourists in the state”, said Rizwan Sheikh, general manager of Trident hotel, owned by the Oberoi Group.
The different category star hotels in the state maintain an average occupancy level of 60-65 per cent throughout the year and the occupancy levels rise to around 80-85 per cent during the peak tourism season. According to industry estimates, the star hotels in the state clock an average revenue of about Rs 3.5 crore per month out of which Rs 2 crore comes from the corporate clients and the leisure travellers account for the remaining revenues.
“With a 25 per cent decline in bookings of corporate clients and leisure travellers, our occupancy levels and revenues are set to dip by around 20 per cent during this peak tourism season. As corporates are cutting their travel costs and foreign tourists arrivals are also expected to be on the downside this year, we can only expect an occupancy level of around 75 per cent over the next three months as against 85 per cent during the same period last year”, said Sandeep Sharma, general manager of Hotel Hindustan International, Bhubaneswar.
The city-based Swosti Group which runs the Swosti Plaza hotel in Bhubaneswar and Swosti Palm Resort in Gopalpur is also expecting a 10-15 per cent drop in occupancy levels during the present tourism season. Our occupancy levels and revenues are set to decline by 10-15 per cent this year during the peak tourism season even though we expect to maintain an occupancy level of around 75 per cent, senior official of the group told Business Standard.
MayFair Group, another premier hotel group in the city, feels that the impact of the economic downturn will be more pronounced on the luxury hotels located in metropolitan cities and major tourism circuits in the country as compared to a Tier-III city like Bhubaneswar.
“The economic slowdown coupled with the communal violence in Orissa’s Kandhamal district is bound to impact the arrival of leisure travellers in the state. However, the impact of the slowdown will be more pronounced in major tourism destinations of the country like Delhi, Agra and Kerala in terms of arrivals of foreign tourists and this will affect the revenues of luxury hotels located in such destinations”, said Surjya Parida, executive director of MayFair Hotels and Resorts.
Till now, MayFair has not experienced any slump in its bookings and we expect to manage the crisis by offering quality products and services, he added.