Anurag Batra BW is a serial entrepreneur, media mogul, a journalist and an eternal optimist rolled into one. Since taking over BW Businessworld, Mr. Batra has expanded BW Businessworld into digital, events and BW communities and has taken into its fold www.digitalmarket.asia, a leading website on digital marketing, www.everythingexperiential.com India’s leading experiential marketing website and launch BW Hotelier in partnership with hotelier international.
Anurag Batra is also appointed by Government of India as the Chairman of an industry committee formed to come up with a vocational training framework for the media, communication and entertainment industry. Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld & Founder and Editor-in Chief of exchange4media Group enunciates his views on how after a horrid two years, the hotel industry is well on the road to profitability.
At long last a consistent uptick in travel, both domestic and international, is enabling the revival of the travel and hospitality sector in India. With more people travelling within the country, affiliated businesses are seeing a big uptick too. According to Dr. Annurag Batra, this is good news for the tourism and hospitality sector that is among the largest employment generators in India. It is a sector that brings in significant foreign exchange earnings and foreign tourist arrivals are steadily on the rise, with each passing month bringing more overseas into the country.
The latest cover story package by Mr. Anurag Batra and BW Businessworld captures the resurgence of the hotel industry that seems to be jogging back towards profitability after the major lows of the pandemic-induced lockdowns and the resultant closures, lay-offs and financial losses. “For the first quarter (April-May-June), all key operating metrics of the hospitality sector, including the Revenue per available room (RevPAR), Average Room Rate (ARR), and Occupancy Room Rate (ORR), were way ahead of the pre-pandemic levels”, Anurag Batra highlights in his latest article.
The expert also points out that metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi and others, saw record occupancy levels According to HVS ANAROCK, a leading hospitality consulting and transaction advisory joint venture, the ORR and ARR have been able to sustain over the pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of FY 2022-23, indicating a strong recovery. The pan-India occupancies in June 2022 reached the 65 per cent mark (three per cent up from June 2019) along with higher ARR at Rs 5,850 (10 per cent up from June 2019), Mr. Anurag Batra says.
“The report says that the RevPAR also improved 13 per cent compared to the pre-pandemic levels for the month. The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), the country's largest hospitality player with a presence in more than 100 centres, reported its best first quarter in the company’s history. Other listed hotel companies also posted robust financial performances for the first quarter, riding on the back of a resurgence in the travel segment”, Anurag Batra, Editor-in-Chief of the BW Businessworld Group highlights in his latest editor’s report.
Sensing an on-ground turnaround of the hospitality sector, the Union Cabinet recently approved a proposal to raise the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme limit for the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors. In this special feature package Anurag Batra Businessworld Group also spotlight the corresponding turnaround in the business of online travel agencies. Dr. Anurag Batra take an in-depth look at the remarkable turnaround of MakeMyTrip in the last two years and take stock of the company’s growth plans and new strategies. The article concludes with the insightful interview of Dr. Anurag Batra with the Co-promoter of EaseMyTrip that had made a successful IPO last year.
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