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International Property
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India poised for hospitality boom as hotel brands such as Hilton, Radisson race to meet surging demand from tourists

  • The country that recently unseated China as the most populous country is tipped to be the next engine of growth for the hotel industry in the Asia-Pacific region
  • India is expecting almost 30 million foreign tourists a year by 2030, up from 11 million before the pandemic, according to Colliers

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Tourists swarm the world famous Gateway of India monument in Mumbai. India is tipped by some analysts to be the next engine of growth for the hotel industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Photo: Getty Images
Cheryl Arcibal
India is tipped to be the next engine of growth for the hotel industry in the Asia-Pacific region, as global hospitality brands embark on aggressive expansion in an “underserved” market.
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The country’s huge and increasingly prosperous population – it recently superseded China as the world’s most populous country – and an estimated threefold rise in foreign tourists in the next few years will ensure a race among hospitality providers to meet rapidly expanding demand for accommodation, analysts said.
It may, however, take time before India is in a position to supplant China as the largest hospitality market in the region.

American hotel operators Hilton and Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) are rushing to capture a share of the growing Indian market. Hilton is planning to double its portfolio there every three to five years, according to Alan Watts, its Asia-Pacific president. RHG, meanwhile, aims to open its very first Radisson Collection hotel, in India in 2026.

Global sporting events and political gatherings are helping prime the market for a near-term boom, guaranteeing vast waves of visitors from overseas.

02:36

India set to overtake China as the world's most populous country in 2023, UN predicts

India set to overtake China as the world's most populous country in 2023, UN predicts

The Cricket World Cup will be held in the last quarter of the year in the western coast city of Ahmedabad, and the biennial South Asian Football Federation championship will take place in June and July in Bangalore, the capital of southern Karnataka state.

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