Future Prospect of Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Hospitality industry: Growth prospects
The hospitality industry is one of the most dynamic industries and continues to
grow year after year. The World Travel Organization predicts that it will triple
in size by the year 2020, becoming one of the largest industries in the world. This
growth will provide many employment opportunities for people with the right qualifications.
Even when the world economy is showing a sluggish growth with uncertain employment
prospects, the fast growing hospitality industry is heralding a pivotal change in
career options with an exciting variety of career choices thereby increasing scope and future prospect of hospitality and tourism industry.
In the Indian context, the hospitality industry contributed only 2% of the GDP in
2003-04. However, it is projected to grow at a rate of 8.8% by 2016, which would
place India as the second-fastest growing tourism market in the world. This year
the number of tourists visiting India is estimated to have touched the figure of
4.4 million. With this huge figure, India is becoming the hottest tourist destination.
The arrival of foreign tourists has shown a compounded annual growth of 6% over
past 10 years. Besides, travel and tourism is the second highest foreign exchange
earner for India. Moreover, it is also estimated that the tourism sector will account
for nearly 5.3 per cent of GDP and 5.4 per cent of total employment.
Tourism in expected to grow further over the next few years due to the changes taking
place on the demand and supply sides. The factors that will account for the further
growth of tourism will include the following:
- Change in standards of living
- More disposable income
- Better education
- Long leisure time
- Aging population
Owing to growth of tourism sector, infrastructure will improve, competition will
increase, new products will enter the market and better services will be provided.
Today, all the major international hotels like Holiday Inn, Radisson, Le Meridien,
Accor, Ibis, TGIF, Hyatt, and Hilton are present in India. With all the positive
signals, hospitality industry in India is getting
consolidated and has many more opportunities to grow further.
