Goa, the top beach and nightlife tourism destination in the country, is regaining its lost momentum post the pandemic as the occupancy rate of the hotels jumps to 55 percent from 15 percent as the Hospitality Industry reviews post covid.
According to the latest Hotel Momentum India report by consultancy JLL, in the third quarter of 2020 hotels in Goa were running at an average occupancy of 15%. This figure jumped to nearly 55 % in the fourth quarter. Similarly, the average room rates swelled from about Rs 4,500 to nearly Rs 7,000 per night. Other major markets like Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai registered improvement in occupancies too while Chennai and Hyderabad saw an increase in average room rates in the last quarter of 2020.
Goa led the list of the most solid markets in the hospitality sector in September to December 2020. The market saw improvement in both occupancies and room rates.
The report highlights that some 23 branded hotels were opened in three months to December consisting of 2,262 keys whereas 45 new signings (consisting of 4,326 keys) have happened during the same period. At 45, the number of new signings was down by 43.6 percent as compared to the same period last year.
The midscale and upscale categories have seen the most traction in the last quarter. For example, in terms of openings, 11 midscale hotels were opened in Q4 CY20 as compared to five in upscale, four in upper upscale, two in luxury, and just one in the budget segment. Also, most new hotel sign-ups took place in the midscale segment (22 properties) followed by upscale (12), upper-upscale (4), luxury (4), and budget (3) segments, which shows the JLL report.
In terms of location break-up, the maximum action is happening in the tier-II and -III cities. For instance, the most openings in Q4CY20 took place in tier-II cities (10 properties) followed by tier-I (7) and tier-III (6) cities. But the maximum number of new branded hotel signings was witnessed in tier-III cities (20 properties) followed by tier-II (15) and tier-I (10) cities.
Contrary to the general perception, the report also says that the operational hotel supply (both branded and independent) in India as of December 2020 (3,05,600 keys) is actually more than the total comparable supply (3,01,068 keys) at the end of 2019.
When the pandemic struck the country in 2020, just like all other states, Goa too went into hibernation with almost all the hotels closing creating a huge loss to the industry. But with proper SOPs taken and safety measures followed, Goa opened its doors to tourism in late December with throngs of tourists gathering in the state for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
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