The Commonwealth Games 2010 are set to change the hospitality and infrastructure landscape of Delhi and NCR The Commonwealth Games, which will be held in the first two weeks of October 2010, are set to change the skyline of Delhi and NCR as far as infrastructure is concerned and push the Indian tourism industry to greater heights, as thousands of tourists are expected to land in India to watch the grand spectacle.
"In the past, Delhi had hosted the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. It is believed that the Commonwealth Games are likely to boost the Indian tourism industry, as the foreign tourists who will be coming to India next year will be greatly dependent upon the travel agents for the tour itineraries, hotel bookings, flight reservations and visa," said Julius Fernandes, general manager of Country Inn & Suites by Carlson at Sahibabad.
Not only are the Games going to benefit the Indian tourism industry in a big way, these are also going to boost various job opportunities in sectors like hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, airports who are going to hire more employees in order to handle the large influx of tourists from all over the world. In addition, all the sports venues would be hiring on temporary basis for ground handling facilitation jobs for the duration of the games.
Fernandes was of the opinion that the hospitality sector would be gearing itself up to meet the challenges in sourcing manpower accordingly.
But is the Delhi/ NCR equipped to meet the accommodation requirements of foreign tourists? To this Fernandes replied, "Yes, we will be able to meet the upper segment demand (i.e. delegates/ guests sponsored by the government). The East Delhi NCR area alone has about 610 rooms in its inventory. A majority of the demand for rooms is also likely to be under USD 50 category which fits in the bed & breakfast category." He also believed that the bed & breakfast option needs to be augmented by the government with a single window clearance within seven days of application with elimination of bureaucratic hurdles. 417 days from today the Commonwealth Games are going to be held. It is now not possible for any new hotel project to be built within a short span of 14 months."
Though a short-term affair, the Games would have the capacity to change the hospitality landscape in totality and for the better. Qualitatively - to meet the demand of world class quality, the hotels shall deliver the best that is available all across the globe as it is a matter of national pride and showcasing of the products and services of each hotel, for the purpose of attracting future business. Quantitatively - it shall boost revenues during these 16 days and result in better revenue per available room.
Going back to the ASIAD Games, in 1982, in Delhi for the ASIAD, 10 hotel projects with capacity of 3,500 rooms were taken up. This vastly improved the infrastructure of Delhi as far as room supply of quality hotels was concerned. Delhi suddenly had a good number of world class hotels. Similarly in a run up to the Commonwealth Games with many hotel projects nearing their completion and adding to the room supply in Delhi/ NCR, the overall availability of hotel rooms would improve. With brand new hotels adding to the Delhi landscape, older existing hotels would be under pressure to renovate their existing facilities and to improve their services and products.
And the spiraling effect of the developmental projects would be immense with connectivity and infrastructure improving considerably. The hotel industry has an optimistic view on the games looking at the magnanimous tasks in a city like Delhi/ NCR.
With the government completing the connectivity projects from hotels to the Games Village, Games venues, airport, bus depots and railway stations and developing the connectivity from the hotels to main link roads, leading to the highways connecting Agra and Jaipur, a substantial amount of visitors can be expected to travel to Agra, Jaipur and the neighboring hill stations.
The Ninth Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1982, were one of the biggest sporting events after independence. Come 2010, the country takes a step further to host the Commonwealth Games in the same city. India would expect over one lakh tourists during the upcoming games.
Transport
Delhi will have a dedicated Metro line from the airport to the city centre - Connaught Place - by 2010. The Games Village as well as the main competition venues such as the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Indira Gandhi Stadium will be connected through the Metro. The inter-city connectivity as well as passenger capacity will be enhanced. All Metro stations are planned to be Wi-Fi enabled by 2010.
A four-lane, 2.2 km underground stretch from Ring Road to Lodhi will link the Games Village to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, reducing traveling time for athletes. Twelve new flyovers and several bridges and under-bridges are being constructed to improve road connectivity with the Games Villages, the sports venues, and within the city. Road widening also is in progress. The new eight-lane expressway from Gurgaon to Delhi is functional. A total of 1,100 new low floor, high-capacity air-conditioned buses will ply on Delhi roads by 2010 to ease commuting.
Hosting events of this caliber is a privilege and an opportunity. India hosted the Asian Games over two decades ago when Delhi got its first facelift and did a good job of it. Having said that the world has moved forward at an amazing pace and standards have been upped. India must realize that it needs to deliver what the world expects and not what it thinks is adequate.
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