A serious hotel shortage has businessmen wandering the country in search of a bed. Neeta Lal in Asia Sentinel:
Paul Douglas had a surreal experience on his maiden visit to India last year. Although the Los Angeles trader was on a business trip to India’s Silicon Valley - Bangalore - he put up in Mumbai, nearly 1,000 kilometers away. Douglas would fly to Bangalore every morning during his three-day stay and then jet back after wrapping up work.
Douglas found the city’s hotels so expensive, he says, that he preferred “to stay with a friend in Mumbai, fly in for meetings to Bangalore and then catch the day’s last flight back.”
Much like Douglas, foreign visitors to India are experiencing the country’s worst hotel room crunch ever. As its economy booms, with growth projected at 8 percent in 2008-09 despite the global slowdown, demand for hotel accommodation has far outstripped supply. The shortfall is so acute that hotel rooms in most Indian metropolitan areas are either unavailable or to be had only for outrageous prices.
May 6, 2008 at 3:20
There has been a surge of tourists to India in the past couple of years.This has led to a major shortage in hotel accommodation especially for those traveling on business .Many foreign and local hospitality brands have recognized this and intend to take advantage of it over the coming coming years .