The 5th HAI Hoteliers’ Conclave is being organized by Hotel Association of India (HAI), the Apex Body of the Indian Hospitality Industry. It will be held from 28/29th September 2022 in New Delhi.

The theme for the Event is Resurgence - Looking beyond Covid-19.

The pandemic triggered a global crisis like no other - a health crisis resulting in the worst recession since the Second World War. It continues to ravage the economy causing deep damage that will extend to fundamental factors of growth and have long lasting impact on people’s lives. Globally, the last couple of years have thrown challenges never experienced before in living memory or recent history.

International tourism dropped to the levels of what it was 30 years ago. The totality of the impact of which has not yet been assessed. But UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) points out what is at stake — 100-120 million direct jobs, loss of up to $1.2 trillion in international visitors spending and loss of $2 trillion of global GDP. Indian tourism has been impacted severely too and the Indian hospitality industry has gone through a period of tumultuous change.

The pandemic continues to surge unabated in several parts of the world, the good news is that the worst is probably behind us and the world is learning to live with Covid.

According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism saw a 182% year-on-year increase in January-March 2022, with destinations worldwide welcoming an estimated 117 million international arrivals compared to 41 million in Q1 2021”.

During the gloomy and difficult period, the Indian hospitality industry has shown tremendous resilience and enormous innovation in simultaneously enhancing quality and reducing costs, while also opening new properties and adding to the hotel room inventory in the country. HAI member hotels stood united in their support to the Government and to the citizens of the country in alleviating some of the challenges being faced.

In the crisis, hotels and companies found opportunities -. for a deeper proliferation of technology in the delivery of hospitality services, for diversification and exploration of alternate sources of revenue, for taking a closer look at costs to make businesses viable and profitable under extremely adverse conditions.

Historically Tourism and hospitality have been a key driver of GDP and employment and there is absolutely no doubt that the sector will also be critical to the post pandemic economic revival of the country and the world.

The pandemic has provided the industry to pause and to re-boot, re-imagine and re-set. The pandemic has changed the way the industry works – perhaps forever.

Through various sessions, the Conclave is an endeavor to study the impact of Covid, to take stock and analyze and to prepare the Industry for changes that that will come at a higher frequency and will be more impactful than ever before. It marks the beginning of the journey towards a new era of growth for the industry. There is a great deal of work that needs to be done to bring about a real transformation-there is a need for collaboration, for taking a closer look at hygiene and health both physical and mental, environment, technology and other issues to ensure a more inclusive and sustainable growth and development of the Industry that is one of the highest employers and contributes significantly to the country’s GDP and foreign exchange earnings. We hope that the Conclave will be a platform for evaluation ,sharing and learning among stakeholders to guide the way forward.