Mumbai, Feb 18 (PTI) Focus on domestic business will help the tourism and hospitality sector recover from the adverse impact of the pandemic, Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Puneet Chhatwal said on Friday.

"We need to focus more and more on domestic business, leisure or non-leisure. If we do that, this opportunity that has come because of COVID, will make India a 12-month destination.

Also Read | Volkswagen in Talks To Acquire Huawei's Autonomous Driving Unit: Report.

"Our industry has always operated on 40 per cent business in H1 and 60 per cent in H2 and I think both this 40 per cent and 60 per cent can go up significantly and narrow the gap with the focus on domestic (business)," Chhatwal said at the virtual 4th edition of CII Real Estate Confluence.

The recovery is also possible if the country's GDP grows to 8-9 per cent as it will translate into better RevPar numbers for the industry, he said.

Also Read | Vivo Y15s With MediaTek Helio P35 SoC, Dual Rear Cameras Launched in India.

Further, Chhatwal said the industry should compare TrevPar (total revenue per available room) instead of RevPar (revenue per available room).

"The total revenue per available room is not as bad because we have events, meetings, weddings and that helps us in driving our revenue," he added.

Finally, Chhatwal said the industry is on the right track and with the current scenario, the demand will outpace the supply and in 2-3 years it will balance out and the rates should increase.

"All the demand that is driven today is from the domestic market both leisure and non-leisure. When it comes to growth we can expect to see some consolidation activities happening in the industry....The domestic brands will become stronger and the emphasis and the focus will be more on domestic brands," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)