In a provocative article that should be read by all decision-makers in the hotel industry, Sheldon Santwan, Editor, Express Travel World , makes a strong case against killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Referring to the way hotels are merrily jacking up rates in a market where there's a huge scarcity of rooms, Santwan quotes a leading European tour operator as saying that over the last few months 93 groups of Italian tourists alone have bypassed India in preference for China purely because of exorbitant rates.

Sounding a note of caution, he points out that "the inbound [tourist arrival] figures have registered a growth rate of between 10 and 18 per cent over the same period . a far cry from the 30 and 40 per cent that we so generously quote in our tourism presentations worldwide." Adds Santwan: "A little introspection will reveal that the Indian industry itself is at loggerheads and tourism will eventually be the casualty. If it's not the travel agents versus the airlines, it's the tour operators versus the hotels! If things have to truly change, a real change needs to be effected in the mindset of this industry and the way it benchmarks growth."

(To read the complete article, follow this link: http://www.expresstravelworld.com/200604/edit01.shtml)