Hotel potential.

Tourist arrivals to India have shown a robust growth and we will go past the 4 million international arrival mark for the first time in 2006. While the Incredible India campaign has been a huge success in the recent past, India now runs the risk of over playing it. India suddenly has the most expensive hotel markets in the region.

The government of India grants star categories to all approved hotels in India. This approval status is voluntary; however, only approved hotels can avail of various incentives, import licenses and other benefits from the government. Nearly all the five-star deluxe, five-star, four-star and three-star hotels in the country are members of Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), although membership is not so comprehensive in lower star categories.

The following table lists the number of FHRAI member hotels in different categories in the last five years.

	2002		2003		2004		2005		2006
Categories	hotels	rooms	hotels	rooms	hotels	rooms	hotels	rooms	hotels	rooms
five star deluxe	68	15672	68	16050	74	17903	78	18625	85	19935
five star	72	8662	72	8669	71	8554	77	9326	81	9162
four star	100	7614	102	7408	104	7355	124	8693	119	8086
three stars	413	21387	409	21098	414	21433	468	24401	455	24123
two stars	234	9278	226	8903	221	8639	212	8242	196	7009
one star	48	1696	44	1520	43	1480	44	1504	35	1098
heritage	71	2492	67	2252	69	2297	75	2567	76	2611
approved (unclassified)	308	12515	297	11921	304	12058	333	13426	440	17937
un-approved	455	17925	452	17895	477	18796	470	18286	493	19,431
total	1769	97241	1737	95722	1777	98515	1881	105,070	1980	109392