Bill-grimage: Rishikesh costliest desi destination

Faith rules, and so does Rishikesh when it comes to remaining the priciest desi destination in terms of average hotel room rates. Though business travel gathered steam last fiscal — Mumbai and Delhi knocked off Srinagar and Udaipur from the second and third spots — leisure was the buzz, with 10 out of top 15 on the list being non-business destinations.

Leading hospitality consulting firm Hotelivate’s recent report for 2024-25 shows the holy town in Uttarakhand on top of the pile for the second consecutive year, though its revenue per available room (RevPAR) declined marginally by about 4% to Rs 9,691 from Rs 10,086 in FY 24.

Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad among top biz destinations

The top 10 leisure destinations are: Rishikesh, Ranthambore, Udaipur, Srinagar, Goa, Varanasi, Jodhpur, Mussoorie, Lonavala and Agra. The five business destinations are Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Bengaluru. “In recent years, rising demand for leisure destinations, particularly emerging ones with limited supply, has propelled these locations to the top of the country’s RevPAR (revenue per available room) rankings. The broader top 15 reflects similar trends: leisure markets like Coorg and Srinagar have dropped in rank due to the arrival of new, lower-tier hotels, whereas established urban markets such as Hyderabad, and Gurgaon have posted robust RevPAR growth,” says Hotelivate.

Indian hospitality industry was on a roll last fiscal thanks to a booming economy and domestic travel, even as international inbound continues below pre-Covid 2019 levels. The report says India’s proposed supply crossed the 1 lakh-room mark for the first time in over a decade and the average room occupancy in April 2024-March 2025 “stood at 68.0%, the highest in recent memory and comfortably above the pre-pandemic levels.”

The fallout of the Pahalgam terror attack, including impact on commercial flights both in India and international ones due to prolonged airspace closures, did affect travel. The overall travel industry remains confident of coming out of that and continue their best post-Covid success story seen last fiscal. “Despite turbulence — economic slowdowns, geopolitical headwinds, and investor caution — India has kept its pace strong. Domestic demand has been powering the industry forward, even when international arrivals remained inconsistent.” While leisure “markets found a rhythm, posting records in performance” last fiscal, places like Goa are “showing signs of fatigue.”

“Mumbai secured pole position yet again, leading the country in room revenue per key and ranking on the podium in all other key metrics. Bengaluru and New Delhi complete the top three by inventory.” Existing hotels outperformed on both occupancy and rate last fiscal, but their strength tends to get diluted when averaged with newer supply. Properties operational before March 2021 saw an occupancy of 71.9% versus the overall average of 68%. And their average daily rate was Rs 8,701 compared to nationwide ADR of Rs 8,432.

The proposed supply pipeline “reflects a bold strategy introducing branded hotels into 177 new markets.” As of March 2025, the total branded pipeline, regardless of construction status, stands at 1,14,151 rooms.