PERFORMANCE OF INDIA'S HOTEL INDUSTRY IN THE ERA OF ECONOMIC REFORMS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS CLIMATE.

The environment of the lodging industry in India is presently undergoing a transformation. The changes being witnessed are a combined result of the liberalization policies of the early 1990s in India and changes affecting travel and tourism globally. These changes have offered hotels that presently operate or are planning to operate in India with both challenges and opportunities. As a result, an understanding of the investment and business climate for the hotel industry in India becomes important for international investors, host governments and domestic hotel companies. The purpose of this study is to better understand the investment and business climate and its effect on the competitiveness of the hotel market in India. The study will present results and discuss India's economic reforms and open market policies, tourism policies, industry regulation, competition, evolution of the hotel industry structure (size, geographical dispersion, brand proliferation, ownership, quality, international chains) incidence of taxation, tariff structure, availability of qualified employees, customer demographics, ecological, supply of capital and performance trends. Based on an assessment of the multiple business and investment climate attributes, the study will provide a fair assessment of the risks and opportunities for investors interested in entering the Indian hotel market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]