Delhi NTR (National Tourism Region)

There are several Delhis in one Delhi. The city travelled through an enriched history ruled by various dynasties and served as the Capital to various kingdoms until finally the British established Delhi as the Capital city of India. From ‘Dilli’ to ‘New Delhi’, the city state has imbibed multiple cultures, and societies.

Trade had always been the focal point of Delhi’s economy. Government function, administration and judiciary became Delhi’s economic drivers with the turn of India’s independence. Asian Games in 1980s was perhaps the first Tourism booster that the city experienced with improving road infrastructure, stadiums, first bespoke convention centre and new five star hotels dotting the city’s skyline.

The second wave of tourism in Delhi came about in 2002 with Ministry of Tourism’s highly successful ‘Incredible India’ campaign that kept Delhi & its Golden Triangle partners – Agra and Jaipur on the centre-stage. In the same decade, Commonwealth Games brought another booster shot for Delhi Tourism. In between all these events, Delhi excelled in infrastructure growth with a great Airport, an intensive Metro train network, clover leaf flyovers and world’s largest public transport network operating on CNG fuel.

Business wise - trade prospered, industrial and manufacturing units got decentralized and moved to suburban areas, financial and IT services and multinational conglomerates set up large facilities across Delhi’s suburbs. Last two decades witnessed unimaginable growth in employment opportunities and brought massive population to Delhi to work and live. Commercial activities fed residential market demand followed by retail, leisure and entertainment avenues.

Today, Delhi’s existing commercial Grade-A office stock is 11 Mn Sq.Ft with a modest vacancy of 12.8%. Delhi’s suburban markets – Gurgaon is expected cross 70 Mn Sq.Ft and Noida will cross 30 Mn Sq.Ft of commercial Grade-A office stock. Commercial supply and aggressive offtake has provided a fillip to hotels supply and demand. Delhi Aerocity is the centre-piece of integrated hospitality development in the country with 10 branded hotels consisting of more than 3,500 keys across midscale, upscale and luxury lifestyle and serviced apartment categories. With another upcoming 932 key upscale hotel and a large convention facility circa 200,000 Sq.Ft, Aerocity will further garner tourism.

Overall, in Delhi along with its key suburban markets of Gurgaon and Noida, there are more than 20,000 branded hotel rooms. Current market occupancy levels in Delhi are 72% with average room rates at INR 7,150 during YTD October 2019. Hotel market performance has been upwardly stable over the last couple of years, which signifies the fundamental strength of the tourism market.

In this paper titled ‘Delhi National Tourism Region (NTR) – Charting Delhi’s Tourism Potential’, we have attempted to view Delhi’s dynamic tourism from the prism of real estate and hotels. The paper has mapped parameters of air passenger traffic, commercial office market performance and infrastructural developments in the city and its suburbs. Furthermore, it brings to light key data facts on the performance and supply of hotels that highlights Delhi’s success in tourism thus far. It also analyses key tourism demand generators such as business travel; Meetings, Incentives, Convention and Exhibitions (popularly known as MICE) business.

We also observe Central Government’s tourism sector friendly policies such as reduction of GST rates on hotel tariffs, reduction in corporate tax, strengthening aviation business with introduction of UDAN Scheme will further impact Delhi’s tourism in a positive way.

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