IT Majors To Boost Hospitality Industry In Bangalore

Lakshman V - Bangalore

With a visible increase in the number of multinational software companies and consulting firms establishing their offshore operations and R&D bases in the silicon valley of India, industry analysts are optimistic that Bangalore will reign supreme in the Indian hospitality Industry in the coming years. While IT majors like Intel, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft have already announced their expansion plans, several new players like Snecma have identified Bangalore as their hub for outsourcing operations.

According to a recent McKinsey survey, 80 per cent of the top 40 global IT firms are located in India and a substantial number of them have set up their bases in the city. This apart, sources from the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) have revealed that around 40 software firms (both Indian and Multinational) have established their operational bases in Bangalore between February and August 2002.

Expressing his optimism on the changing market dynamics, Yeshwant Nadkarni, consultant, Jones Lang Lasalle, “In recent times there has been a perceptible increase in the number of software firms setting up bases in Bangalore to outsource their software requirements. This apart, the city has always enjoyed a considerable MNC presence, which to some extent was responsible for the strong recovery of the hospitality market in the aftermath of September 11 and subsequent events.”

He added, “Traditionally Bangalore’s hospitality has always focussed on the IT segment. With no immediate supply of rooms in the near future and more and more IT companies flocking the city, Bangalore’s hospitality market will certainly do well and fare even better than Delhi and Mumbai markets in the coming years. This apart the RevPar of the Hospitality industry is also on an upward trend. The average occupancy of in most hotels is between 65-70 per cent. With things looking brighter on the horizon, I think it will further improve in the coming months.”

Says Vikram Cotah, GM, The Atria, Bangalore, “The fortunes of the hospitality industry is certainly on an upswing with a number of MNC IT firms establishing their offshore bases in Bangalore. This certainly augurs well for the industry as it comes in the aftermath of a disastrous season of 2001. This will go a long way in enhancing occupancy levels and also increase the inflow of foreign business travellers into the state.”