India has a shortage of nearly two lakh hotel rooms and it is struggling to manage a surge in tourist arrivals, officials in the tourism ministry said.
They said according to a report of the working group on tourism for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017), for a projected annual growth of 12 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs), the projected requirement of additional hotel rooms in 2016, over 2010, was estimated to be 1,90,108.
"We are plagued with a huge shortage of hotel rooms and instead of building new ones, we are trying to encourage homestays and exploring other alternatives like tying up with existing known brands with operational hotels and accrediting them," said a senior official of the ministry.
The ministry of tourism is also working on creating five special tourism zones in the country so that these areas can be developed into tourist hotspots, officials said.
The number of FTAs in India during 2017 (January- November) were 90.01 lakh as compared to 77.83 lakh during the same period in 2016 registering a growth of 15.6 per cent.
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