CHENNAI: Discounted fares from international and domestic carriers, increase in the number of software and automobile companies setting up shop and growing medical tourism have contributed to the buoyancy in the hospitality industry in Chennai.

Business traffic

Most of the hotels are registering 80-85 per cent occupancy. The three to five star plus category hotels are leveraging on the increase in business and leisure traffic.

Hospitality sector managers are happy with the high occupancy rates for nearly nine months of the current financial year.

With low-cost operators from South East Asia wanting to open up more direct services to the Chennai airport, the metro is poised to sustain the hotel occupancy levels.

Heritage tourism

Promoters of the hospitality industry are happy with the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) focussing on promoting heritage and medical tourism.

Office-bearers of the South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIH & RA) admit that the hospitality sector has benefited from the current travel boom.

"Chennai stands out with an interesting mix of clientele, compared with the neighbouring States. We are able to sustain ourselves as one of the premier hotels catering to high-end and luxury corporate travellers, including Bill Gates, Zubin Mehta and Amartya Sen," explains Prabhat S. Verma, General Manager, Hotel Taj Coromandel.

"People are coming out in large numbers to dine out in speciality restaurants catering to different age groups," says B. Gopinath, General Manger, Hotel Residency, Chennai.

Favoured destination

SIH&RA sources said that with Chennai becoming a "favoured destination" for IT and IT-enabled services, multiplexes coming up and the annual December music season on, hotel promoters are ecstatic.

The metro is playing host to a large number of national and international conferences.

"It is heartening to note that the MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Conference, and Exhibitions) traffic is witnessing a good growth," the sources said.

Disposable income

"Change in lifestyle and availability of disposable income are the key factors behind the current boom," says Palani G Periasamy, Chairman, Le Royal Meredien Hotel.

With increasing employment opportunities and highly skilled and trained professionals available in the State, the hospitality sector is all set to witness a bigger growth, he adds.

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