According to real estate consultancy firm JLL’s report, Hotel Momentum India (HMI) Q2, 2022, the Indian hospitality sector has witnessed robust growth in Q2 (April to June) 2022, mainly due to the demand for weddings and events and the recovery of corporate travel. The sector had taken a hit due to the second wave of the pandemic in Q2 2021. Hence, Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) has seen an exponential growth of 339.3% year-on-year (YoY) in Q2 2022 over Q2 2021. Furthermore, the hospitality sector had seen a remarkable 44.6% growth at a PAN-India level in RevPAR compared to Q1 2022, when the sector was coming out of the impact of the third wave.
The increase in demand can be attributed to weddings and Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), and business travel. Moreover, corporate MICE demand has also seen a revival in the form of corporate off-sites, team meetings, training, etc. Steered by the pent-up demand of travellers who had not experienced a summer vacation in the past two years, domestic leisure continued to be a vital segment during this time.
While business travel will continue to grow and remain the main demand driver, the next two quarters for the sector are likely to be busy owing to domestic leisure and festivals. Wedding and social function demand will remain an important driver. With many corporate meetings and large format conferences being planned, the MICE demand may witness growth in the subsequent months.
As per the report, the total number of hotel signings in Q2 2022 stood at 47 hotels with 4,010 keys. The hotel signings saw substantial growth of 90.9% compared to signings in Q2 2021. Domestic operators dominated signings over international operators with a ratio of 52:48 in terms of inventory volume.
All the six key markets have seen tremendous growth in RevPAR levels in Q2 2022 compared to Q2 2021, owing to the low base observed last year during the second wave of the pandemic and the exceptional performance of the sector this year. Recording growth of 660.1% over Q2 2021, Bengaluru emerged as the RevPAR growth leader in Q2 2022, followed by Goa and Hyderabad with y-o-y growth of 564.5% and 326%, respectively.
Jaideep Dang, managing director, Hotels and Hospitality Group, South Asia, JLL, said, “With exponential growth across all performance indicators in business and leisure destinations, Q2 2022 marks the revival of investor interest and stakeholder profitability in the hotel industry. As business travel and corporate off-sites continued to grow, summer holidays offered a further impetus to the overall demand resulting in a renewed confidence in the sector. We expect this momentum to continue over the next few quarters on the back of long weekends, festivals, weddings, events, and business travel evenly contributing to this growth story.”
