India 22 September 2016: At the 65th Annual General Meeting of South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA) held yesterday (20.09.2016) in Chennai, Mr. K. Syama Raju, MD, Hotel Maurya, Bangalore was re-elected as President, Mr. T. Nataraajan, CEO, GRT Hotels and Resorts was re-elected Hony. Secretary and Mr. K. Chakravarthy as Hony. Treasurer, for the year 2016 – 2017.
According to World Tourism and Travel council (WTTC) Report 2015, the total contribution of tourism and travel to GDP was estimated at 8,304 billion rupees corresponding to 6.3% on national GDP and it is forecasted to grow at a growth rate of 7.3% in 2016. The sector supported 37.3.million jobs in 2015 which is estimated to increase to 38.4 million by 2016 and reach approximately 46 million jobs by 2026. The industry has witnessed consolidation on the supply side. Additionally, more and more global chains are expected to be attracted to the low penetration combined with high growth rates in the Indian market and this is expected to further spur competition pressures, which will influence the demand supply dynamics.
Taking advantage of a stabilizing Hospitality market with congenial atmosphere in labour in South some of the International chains have evinced interest to tap in establishing their international Brands in Southern States that will help the growth in Hospitality sector.
The long term outlook for the Indian hospitality business continues to be positive, both for the business as well as the leisure segments with potential for economic growth, increases in disposable incomes and the burgeoning middle class. 2015-16 saw the supply grow by 3.9% whereas the demand increased by 10.5% over last year.
The year under review proved to be a successful year for the Travel and Tourism sector, off the back of a modestly stronger economic environment. As per the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) it is estimated that international tourist arrivals grew by 4.4% in 2015 reaching a total of 1.18 million.
Within the emerging economies, India is expected to outperform other economies with GDP growth of 7.3% for 2015 with forecast GDP growth of 7.5% in each of 2016 and 2017. India is expected to be a driving force for the global economy in the foreseeable future. It also makes it a ripe market for travel and tourism. The key drivers for international travel demand growth to India include the easier e-visa regime, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Make in India and other similar initiatives which are expected to build a positive global image for the country and will thus have a long term impact for the travel and tourism industry. WTTC predicts that the strong forecast on travel and tourism industry in India will propel it to the 7th spot in terms of travel and tourism GDP by 2026.
Domestic travel is strong and remains the demand bedrock of the industry; as the economy improves domestic business, leisure and meetings, incentives, convention, exhibition (MICE) travel will grow rapidly spreading over many cities and towns. The initiatives taken by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to improve Heritage and rural tourism in lesser known places along with action by the civil Aviation Department to improve air connectivity to tier II cities will encourage investors in building more hotel rooms to make the visit to India affordable and facilitate long stay. This was visualized at the Tourism investors meet in July organized by FICCI that brought together72 buyers and seven State Tourism Boards to present investable projects and attract investments for infrastructural development in tourism. In Chennai, the recent workshop organized by Tamil Nadu Tourism Department with the stakeholders to discuss on the projects launched under the ADB – IDIPT (Asian Development Bank - Infrastructure Development Investment program for Tourism) has evoked interest to promote Heritage, Eco, Adventure and beach Tourism which in turn will have a positive impact on the development of Hospitality sector.
The newly elected Governments in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have exhibited their proactive policy on the growth of Tourism by providing more allocation of funds and with rationalized outlook. Recently in Karnataka cabinet expansion, the Government has inducted a new young and dynamic person as tourism minister who has started on a positive note to develop tourism sector. Karnataka Government has permitted river cruise on River KABINI which will attract more foreign and domestic tourists which will boost travel and tourism in the State of Karnataka. Much awaited GST has been passed by both houses of Parliament and we do hope that it will review the plea of FAITH in having taxes fixed to 6-8% before it is ratified. We do hope that the conventions and meet that are scheduled in the coming months will discuss this issue in detail.
Like previous years, in order to have a useful dialogue between the members and local Associations, E.C. meetings were held at Tier II cities to enable the local members to know about your Association activities and also help in the growth of membership.
This year it is HRAWI’s privilege to host FHRAI convention at Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Like previous years I hope there will be large representation from South.
The following were vice elected as Vice - Presidents
Mr. K. Murali Rao, MD, New Woodlands Hotel – Vice President for Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry
Mr. D. V. S. Soma Raju, Katriya Hotel , Hyderabad, Vice President for Andhra & Telengana
Mr. R. Nagaraju, The Atria Hotel, Bengaluru, Vice President for Karnataka
Mr. M. Suresh Pillai, Director, Hotel Horizon, Trivandrum, Vice President for Kerala
Executive committee members
Mr. K. Syama Raju, Hotel Maurya, Bangalore
Mr. P. C. M. Santhanam, Fortune Pandiyan Hotel, Madurai
Mr. Hari Arumugham, Poppys Hotel, Tirupur
Mr. K. Basavaraj, Hotel Maurya, Bangalore
Mr. P. G. Venkatraman Babu, New Woodlands Hotel, Chennai
Mr. R. Srinivasan, Hotel Radha Regent, Chennai
Mr. M. Suresh Pillai, Hotel Horizon, Trivandrum
Mr. K. Syama Raju