NEW DELHI: Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, occupancy levels for hotels in India continue to remain at rock bottom. According to JLL's Hotel Momentum India (HMI) report, the Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) across 11 markets crashed by a whopping 70-90 per cent in the April-June 2020 period compared to the previous year.
This RevPAR value has falled 52.8 per cent year-on-year in the January to September 2020 period.
In terms of individual markets, Mumbai continues to be the RevPAR leader despite a decline of 71.7 per cent year-on-year in April-June 2020, whereas Bengaluru saw the sharpest decline in RevPAR at 88.1 per cent decline compared to the same period of the previous year. Other markets such as Pune (86.2 per cent), Kolkata (82.6 per cent) and Goa (78.8 per cent) also witnessed sharp declines in RevPAR, according to the report.
Consultancy firm ANAROCK estimates that the sector is likely to face a revenue loss of Rs 90,000 crore in 2020. Hotel occupancy, it noted, has only improved from approximately 10 per cent in April 2020 to 26 per cent in September 2020.
"Saying that COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the hotels sector in India is putting it mildly... Occupancy and average daily rate (ADR) are expected to reach pre-COVID levels by 2022 and 2023 respectively - assuming that a vaccine is in place by early 2021 and becomes widely available before the end of the year," said Mandeep Lamba, President (South Asia) HVS Anarock.
The consultant also added that while over 11,500 rooms were expected to be added to supplies over 2020 and 2021, only 15-20 per cent of the anticipated 2020 supply is likely to come into the market, with the rest being postponed to 2021 and beyond.
It said that some properties are likely to be repurposed to other asset classes such as hospitals, student housing and co-living.