TravTalk India Online Magazine
Infrastructure status and industry-related benefits are our main demands from the State and Union governments, says KB Kachru, Chairman, Emeritus & Principal Advisor, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group & President, HAI, adding that the association is keen to work closely with the government to address the industry issues.
Surbhi Sharma
Speaking about the key focus areas and initiatives Hotel Association of India (HAI) has taken in the past few months, KB Kachru, Chairman, Emeritus & Principal Advisor, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) and President, HAI, said, “As far as the hotel association is concerned our key focus is to align ourselves closely with the government whether it’s Centre or State governments, and need to address some key components of the requirements of the industry. One among them is hiring talent, retaining it and growing it further, and then we are looking at how we can get more investment in our trade.”
According to him, there are more than 100,000 branded rooms in the country which are not sufficient to fulfil the growing demand of customers. “After 50 new destinations have been declared, we have to get more people, more investment and better infrastructure for the growth of our sector. We are working with our members to motivate them to invest there, and we have to work with many foreign institutional investors to bring them here,” he suggested.
Kachru said HAI is increasing its membership and focusing on the key demands of getting infrastructure status and industry-related benefits. “Eleven states have declared tourism and hospitality as industries, but those industry-related benefits are yet to come. Some states have made some progress in this regard, but the execution needs to be pushed forward,” he opined.
He said that the growth in hospitality sector has been good, both in terms of room occupancy and average rates. “The majority parts of India witnessed growth to the tune of 8 to 10 per cent in terms of ADRs except in two or three cities and expect that it will grow better,” he said.
Contribution to economy
Highlighting that HAI is not a commercial organisation, and it feels the pain of its members, Kachru said, “We want to deal with all related agencies to facilitate what needs to be done and make business of HAI members more doable and profitable while positioning India better, and looking at the possibility of how we, as an industry, can contribute towards the growth of the country’s economy. We cannot comment on numbers, but we are encouraged by the growth we have seen in HAI.”
Rise in tier II & III cities
Talking about the association’s growth, Kachru emphasised that apart from tier I Indian cities, which have all important hotel brands, including the domestic and international ones, a lot of growth is taking place in tier II and III cities, as development is making its way there. “People are building hotels, and they want to be associated with an association that will stand by them, help them and assist them in dealing with subjects that they would find difficult to deal with, on their own. For this very purpose, we have our state and regional chapters, which would extend a helping hand to them. Unfortunately, each state has its way of working and there is a lack of centralised functioning. Thus, having state chapters would help address their issues,” he said.
