Not Yet A Traveller's Paradise

Sandeep Gupta, Executive Director, Asian Hotels and MD, Arya Hotels & Consultancy, on why India fails to attract more tourists and the changes we need to make on the government level.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, could you tell us about your journey?

I started with Hyatt Regency Bombay in 1997-98 and then bought Choice Hotels India in 1999. We expanded our footprint to almost 40 hotels across three brands of Choice Hotels. We sold that company back to Choice in 2007-2008, before moving on to the JW Marriott project in 2008 with a similar vision. I have pretty much been in every segment of hospitality—from mid-market, upscale to luxury. I have even been in construction management, operations, franchise operator, along with being a hotel developer and owner.

As a developer, what steps do you think the government could take to help build this particular segment in India?

They are doing a lot in the lower segment, i.e. in the three-and fourstar segment, but the hotels in the upper segment are still considered luxury products and are taxed at 28%. Nowhere in the world is the tax so high. If tourism is to be promoted, this needs to change. There is a segment created at the upper or middle end of the market. And this is still the perception which has not changed, even after so many years. In terms of what the promoters are doing, a couple of initiatives are very good, for instance, creating visa-free or visa-on-arrival for a lot of countries.

Yet, India still doesn't see 20 million tourists. In fact, it’s not even close to 10 million. The outcome has increased but people are finding it cheaper to go abroad rather than travelling within India.

We have to make it affordable for local or domestic travellers to travel within the country. I do, however, think that the airfare equity has improved dramatically. Airport infrastructure has also improved and I see that there is a lot more room for growth in the hospitality sector.