ihcl: Hotel bookings for March-May period exceed pre-pandemic levels, says IHCL MD

Hotel bookings for the March-May period this year exceeded pre-pandemic levels of the same period of 2019, driven by strong domestic demand, the managing director and CEO of Indian Hotels Co Ltd said on Tuesday ( IHCL), Pune and Chhatwal. The head of the Tata Group hotel company said the long-term outlook for the industry will be much more positive than 5-10 years ago, although volatility and geopolitical sentiments around the world amid the Fear of the fourth wave of COVID-19 makes it difficult to forecast beyond 100 days.

“What we’ve been experiencing in the past four to six weeks is such a strong recovery. I can certainly say on behalf of IHCL that our March, April and May (2022) books business is higher than March. , April and May 2019,” Chhatwal said.

He said the rebound in activity was led by domestic demand as “international is very limited for ‘bubble flights’ or OCI (foreign citizen of India)”.

While international flights are expected to resume on March 27, he said it would be a slow time as the best weather to come to India is between October and March.

“So a while ago, but domestic demand has been very, very strong,” Chhatwal said.

Asked about the prospects for the new fiscal year, he replied: “Look, we have no visibility for more than 100 days, but what is visible, I have spoken about it. March, April, May (2022) looks better than March. , April, May 2019. I cannot answer this question today, due to all the geopolitical volatility and sentiment around the world, as well as the fear of the fourth wave of COVID-19.

Regarding the long-term outlook for the hospitality industry, he said it “will be much more positive than it ever was 5 to 10 years ago.”