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25-40% discount in 'busy' season

BS Corporate Bureau

Normally, tourist traffic picks up in October and the moneymaking season for the hospitality industry begins. This is the time when hotels end their discounts and the tariff starts firming up. Not this year.

As people in the US and Europe cancel their travel plans following the terrorist attacks on the US, Indian hotels are preparing to offer further discounts in a bid to lure the tourists. Industry sources disclose that the discounts could range from 25 per cent to 40 per cent.

Some hotels have started looking at attracting travellers from new destinations. Tour operators are talking of packing more into their packages to tide over the crisis even as they prepare themselves to slash their prices. Black Tuesday has caused hotels and tour operators to reframe their marketing strategies.

Tourists from the US and Europe account for almost 60 per cent of the total tourists visiting India. According to Sita Travels (inbound division) chief operating officer Arjun Sharma, tourist arrivals during the year could fall well short of the two million figure reached last year.

To cope with the crisis, hotels are preparing themselves to offer discounts. Says a Le Meridien official: "The hotels have become very aggressive right now. Every possible suspect has to be converted into a prospect and we are ready to discuss with the potential clients across the table and are even lowering our prices in some cases. Every single piece of business is important to us."

Others are looking at new markets. Says Carlson Hospitality India (it owns the Radisson brand) senior vice-president KB Kachru: "Radisson would target countries in the Far East or in West Asia and would also target the domestic traveller to shore up our occupancies."

Says a Bharat Hotels official: "We'll be servicing and reaching out to more and more customers through our network spread across the major metros."

The Tatas-promoted Indian Hotels Company Ltd does not expect any tourist to come from not only the US but also Italy, Germany and Spain.

"We are thus looking at alternative destinations including West Asia to fill our rooms this season but how we are going to do it, still remains to be worked out," an IHCL official said.

Tour operators too are pulling every trick out of the hat. International Travel House, for instance, plans to introduce new innovative itineraries for the domestic market during the coming week when it will also offer discounts up to 40 per cent.

"We are now targeting to convert the corporate travel market segment into holiday travel business as well and creating new tours within the country. We will focus at areas including south-east and north-east Asia along with Australia and Africa which would be farthest from the zone of immediate travel danger," says ITH general manager (marketing) Sudhir Sahi.

Adds STIC Travels chairman Subhash Goyal: "We'll be introducing new schemes and packages and would also divert our advertising to tap the more lucrative markets including south-east Asia."

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