Commonwealth Game’s Up

Infographic: Hemal Sheth

The hotel industry in Delhi was, perhaps, looking forward to the Commonwealth Games more than any other group. After all, according to Tourism Ministry forecasts, 52,951 foreign tourists and 139,754 domestic travellers would visit the capital, which would mean roughly 40,190 room bookings a day during the Games (or, as they like to put it, over 100 percent occupancy). Alas, visitors didn’t quite “Come out and play.”

October is normally peak season for hotels in Delhi, but occupancy actually dropped this year, according to some media reports. To look at the bright side, a lot of new capacity has been created, both in new properties and expanded older hotels. So, if we bid for the Olympics…