Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) expects the fallout from the Middle East crisis to weigh on its Dubai operations for several more quarters, even as the company's domestic business continues to post strong numbers, according to Managing Director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal.
Speaking to ET Now ahead of an MoU signing, Chhatwal said hospitality and travel-related businesses are typically slow to recover once a regional crisis hits, even after the immediate disruption eases. He estimated that IHCL's three operational hotels in Dubai could take close to a year to return to the rate levels the market was commanding before the crisis. Business travel, he added, would lag behind leisure travel in any recovery, since corporate trips and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) activity typically take longer to resume than personal travel.
