Hotel chains, whether international or Indian, have recognised domestic traffic as the main source of income, irrespective of the segment of travellers catered to or the location of the property. And this domestic traveller now demands comfort and service standards wherever he goes, widening the playing field for developers. So, for instance, a sector which, for years, focused on hotels in gateway/popular holiday destinations, has now moved into tier II cities, especially industrial hubs, to tap the business market.
In keeping with such trends, hoteliers are now turning their attention to the potential of religious destinations. Pious Indians streaming into destinations such as Tirupati, Shirdi, Vaishno Devi and so on, are also the discerning travellers who have experienced and hence know the importance of quality accommodation, escalating the importance of properties that can serve them satisfactorily.
Keys Hotels, which has recently opened a property in Shirdi and Ajmer, and has projects under development in prominent pilgrim cities such as Varanasi, Haridwar and Vrindavan, has recognised the importance of this segment. “Pilgrim cities have stable potential of business primarily from families and devotees. Despite very little or no corporate business in these cities, there is potential for round-the-year business. A large percentage of guests who visit pilgrim destinations have strong paying capabilities and willingness to spend for the right product and comfort along with modern amenities,” said Partha Chatterjee, Chief – Sales and Marketing, Berggruen Hotels.
Echoing this view, Pradeep Kalra, Sr. Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Sarovar Hotels, which operates properties in Haridwar, Badrinath, Shirdi, and Pondicherry and will soon be commissioning a 5 star in hotel in Tirupati, stated that the chain’s hotels across religious destinations do very well considering there is an ever increasing demand for branded accommodation at such destinations.
According to Gopal Rao, Regional Vice President – Sales and Marketing, South West Asia, IHG, there is potential for growth in religious destinations across India as improving infrastructure have made these cities more attractive for hotel companies.
“With religious and leisure tourism in Amritsar booming, we opened our first hotel in Punjab with Holiday Inn Amritsar Ranjit Avenue at the end of last year. We are also open to entering new cities and will be launching our Holiday Inn brand in West Bengal in the next three to five years,” Rao informed.
The difficulties
The path to God is one of trials and tribulations, and the hotel industry faces it’s share of obstacles and challenges when operating in religious destinations. Kalra listed marketing as a challenge. “Religious tourism is on the increase. The major challenge of marketing the religious destinations is that the business moves in an unstructured way which therefore requires a large bench of advertising and marketing,” he opined.
Chatterjee mentioned year-round business as the biggest advantage with religious destinations. “However, the challenges are that certain days of the week have low occupancies while other days are full. Operations at such occasions have issues. It is critical to give special emphasis to the product in religious destinations,” he said.
Vikram Kamat, Executive Director, Kamat Hotels, which operates properties in Puri and Konark, and is in talks in destinations such as Shirdi, Pandarpur, Katra, Kolhapur also commented on the tremendous scope of business in these destinations. He opined that any destination has its pros and cons, including difficulty in diverting the corporate segment as these destinations are influenced or targeted only as pilgrimage destination.
“However, one may not need to market the destination as there’s a good amount of traffic created by default. Furthermore, due to heavy traffic from family segment, the demand for branded hotels is huge,” he added.
Working with the trade
The travel trade, as in every other aspect of tourism, remains an integral cog in the religious tourism segment, driving hotels to work closely with their travel trade partners to encourage traffic. Kamat Hotels works with over 500 travel agents, and is looking for a major contribution of room night from these agents to promote our properties.
Keys have been working very closely with the travel trade since its inception, and is associated with GSA networks in India & Internationally. According to Chatterjee, 50 per cent of the business received at leisure and religious destinations come through travel agents.
Kalra stated that the travel trade is very critical in generating occupancies for hotels in religious destinations. Sarovar, therefore, works for both inbound tour operators that bring in religious groups and also domestic tour operators that promote religious and holiday destinations, he concluded.
