Archana Sharma – New Delhi
After a decade of being hosted in Mumbai, the Hotel Investment Conference South Asia (HICSA) 2015 has relocated to New Delhi with a focus to target a different and wider audience. Elaborating on the same, Manav Thadani, chairman, HVS – Asia Pacific stated, “After a decade people need new challenges and in order to provide a better platform, we have also reintroduced our old operations conference this year along with a golf tournament which we have never done before. Through these two back to back events, we are aiming to bring in a wider audience ranging from hotel owners and developers to general managers.” The golf tournament will be held on April 5, Hotel Operations Summit India (HOSI) on April 6 and HICSA 2015 from April 7-8 at JW Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi. HVS will also be organising two educational seminars on professional skill development and finance during HICSA 2015. Around 700-750 registrations are expected for both the seminars. Discussing the Indian hospitality scenario, Thadani opined, “Though the market will close at a higher occupancy, the rates will take another 12-18 months before increasing and matching up to the market demand.”
He also stated that the last quarter of this fiscal year will be better than 2014 and will show positive results. However, the food and beverage segment will continue to be challenging for hotels. “The F&B revenue in hotels is decreasing and with banqueting becoming a larger part, hotels are increasing their developmental costs by adding more space to banqueting, which not only increases the operating costs but also aren’t that feasible most of the time,” he added.
Talking about the international outlook towards India as an investment opportunity, Thadani believes that more international players will be looking towards India as a major investment hub and more interest will be observed in the coming years.