Hotels see 39% dip in room revenue: JLL

New Delhi: India's hospitality industry witnessed a decline of 38.7 per cent in Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) during the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the year-ago period, according to global real estate consultant JLL.

"RevPAR in the top six cities has decreased by 48 per cent in Q1 2021 as compared to Q1 2020," JLL's Hotel Momentum India (HMI) Q1 2021 said in a statement. Goa grew to be the RevPAR leader in absolute terms, despite the single digit decline in RevPAR by 1.1 per cent in January-March 2021 compared to the year-ago period. This was due to a 6.4 per cent increase in occupancy levels, it added.

Demand for domestic leisure travel amid international travel restrictions continues to make Goa the fastest recovering market in absolute terms, the statement said. Bengaluru saw the sharpest decline in RevPAR in the first quarter of 2021, with a 60.6 per cent decline compared to the same period of the previous year, it added. The recovery of the sector has been primarily driven by the leisure segment performing notably well, the statement said. JLL, South Asia, Hotels and Hospitality Group, MD Jaideep Dang said that in the first quarter of 2021, the hospitality industry witnessed a revival, with most leisure markets performing exceptionally well.

The pace of recovery started picking up due to increase in corporate travel but it was short lived as the onset of the second wave brought back travel restrictions and derailed the recovery, he added. "We expect that the hospitality sector in India will mostly remain under stress in 2021. However, the hotels are much more nimble and better prepared in terms of their SOPs and cost structures to navigate business interruptions this year," Dang said.