Indian Express: Pune sees a large number of visitors in December and a large number are on some serious business, be it for medicine conferences or astronomy conventions or year-end meets at the IT and auto hub. As a result of the December rush, it’s brisk business for the hotel and hospitality industry as well.
“Just today we finished three exhibitions. Many more are lined up in the next few days. It is a very hectic time for us. Till the second week of December it is going to remain so. From the third week till January second week, the pace slackens as the holiday mood sets in, especially for the expat community that returns to their home countries for Christmas and New Year,” Gangadhar Panniker, manager, food and beverages department at Le Meridian, said.
Gaur Sunder, team coordinator at medical informatics department at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has a different view. “From our experience in the last few years, we have seen that international delegates prefer India in December as it is holiday for them back home and easier for them to find time to pursue academic interests here. Also the weather here is moderate for them as compared to the severe cold especially in the European nations.”
“Pune has become the exhibition and convention hub of the nation today. Our recently opened convention centre at Senapati Bapat Road has been getting tremendous response. This time of the year, many corporates have year-end incentive programmes. Also, most BPOs and KPOs find December an appropriate time to explore new sectors of the Indian markets. So business is great at year-end,” Rakshit Talwar, director, sales, at Courtyard by Marriot in Hinjewadi said.
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and travel agents in the city are also hopeful of a good year-end and have been registering brisk business owing to tourist arrivals. “This is the time of the year when business is at a high,” said regional manager of MTDC, P R Mane. “The occupancy at our accommodations at 23 places within the city and in the other parts of the state like Sangli, Satara, Solapur and Kolhapur is nearly 100 per cent.” The booking rates of the MTDC for both
Deluxe and economy accommodations have touched an all-time high. It’s in Rs 800-3600 a day for one person against Rs 600-2900 between July and September. “From October to December-end, tourist arrivals remain high owing to holidays. On the contrary, the rainy season is the leanest in terms of arrivals,” added Mane. “There has been a multifold increase in bookings this month.From 2-3 a month in June-August, we reached this number each day now. Our average earnings per day has reached Rs 25,000-30,000, from 2,000-3,000 in June-July,” Rajinder Vaze, owner, Aumkar tours and travels, said.
