27. Sep, 2008. NEW DELHI: The National Capital's bid to match Beijing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games will prove to be a tough task as the city will struggle to meet the requirement of 18,000 hotel rooms to host foreign tourist. 

"The Commonwealth Games in 2010 is expected to attract 50,000 foreign visitors to Delhi ... approximately 30,000 rooms will be required to accommodate these visitors," global hotel investment service firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLLH) said in its latest report. 

The National Capital Region, currently, has about 10,500 rooms and an additional 15,000 to 18,000 rooms are required to take care of the foreign tourist inflow during the event, it added. 

The report, however, said only 7,400 rooms are coming up in the NCR between 2008 and 2010. 

"This potential demand-supply gap presents huge untapped opportunity for potential investors in the industry," the study pointed out. 

The consultant found that about 55 per cent of the total room inventory in the pipeline would open in Gurgaon. 

"There are about 4,087 rooms in the pipeline in Gurgaon which will make it an alternative to Delhi's existing commercial districts," it added. 
With emergence of specialty hospitals, like Apollo, Fortis, Artemis and Wockhardt, medical tourism is expected to get a boost, further strengthening the demand for hotel rooms. 

Currently, NCR has 62 government-approved hotels with a total of 7,781 rooms. 

Besides, occupancy rate in the NCR is expected to remain at 75 per cent in the next five years with ADR (average room rates) at Rs 17,000, the report pointed out. 

The consultant, however, said growth in ADR may moderate slightly in 2008 and 2009 due to anticipated entry of over 3,400 new rooms, mainly in Noida and Gurgaon. 

According to Airport Authority of India data, IGI Airport had witnessed a 15.4 per cent growth at 6.7 million international passengers during 20006-07, the report said. 

"This growth in inbound foreign travellers is expected to continue into 2007-08 as indicated by the 11 per cent year-on-year growth in international passenger arrivals to 4.5 million for the April to November 2007 period," it added. 

JLLH said that of all the foreign tourists coming to India, 35-40 per cent make Delhi their first port of call, with 62 per cent of these being business travellers. 

The domestic passenger traffic has also grew by 31.7 per cent to 10.5 million during 2006-07 and a similar trend is expected during 2007-08.