India needs about 2,00,000 new hotel rooms, Tourism Minister KJ Alphons told parliament this week.
“We have reached a plateau point and need more resources to create new infrastructure and develop tourist packages,” Alphons later told Reuters, adding there was huge potential in developing areas that were not the usual tourist destinations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said developing tourism, particularly in India’s remote north-eastern states, is one of his top priorities.
Hotel occupancy levels in India are at their highest levels since 2008, even though many hotel chains have raised prices.
The need for rooms has been spotted by foreign investors with Japan’s SoftBank Group backing start-ups like OYO Rooms, which has emerged as the largest aggregator of budget accommodation across the country with hotels in over 200 destinations.
