"India is a market on every global investor's radar!"

Xander Nijnens, Senior Managing Director, Head of Advisory & Asset Management, Hotels & Hospitality, Asia-Pacific, JLL, shares insightful trends about the Indian hospitality industry and where it's heading...

- VINODINI RAO

As the world's leading hospitality advisors, JLL's forte lies in helping people discover hotel opportunities, find hidden gems for hotel investments and providing support throughout a property lifecycle.

Hotelier India caught up with Xander Nijnens, Senior Managing Director, Head of Advisory & Asset Management, Hotels & Hospitality, Asia-Pacific, JLL, during his brief visit to India. Xander, who has more than 15 years of experience in hotel advisory, investment, asset management and operations across the globe, had some valuable insights to share about hospitality trends in Asia Pacific, and India, in particular...

Excerpts from the interview...

From JLL's perspective, what does the hospitality scene currently look like in Asia and India, in particular?

It's a particularly exciting time in the hospitality sector at the moment. The scene is vibrant all over. Much of Asia is roaring back in terms of demand and tourist arrivals. Of course, India's in quite a similar zone too - with really strong performance coming through from hotels, which are luxury and domestic-driven. So while tourism and hospitality are in a good space, a lot of people in the real estate sector are looking at hotels again, because they can see that, from a growth perspective, it's a really interesting place to be. The mood is very positive.

During the pandemic, there was a slowdown in new supply and lack of CapEx going into existing properties. So with that having cleared, and with there being a strong demand growth, more people are excited about investing in the hotel sector. I'd say a lot of hotel owners are currently in a place where they've got existing assets that need investments. That has resulted in quite a lot of new projects coming to fruition.

Which are the segments in the industry that are doing well and have the potential to keep soaring?