While delegates, pilots, and Ministers are staying in hotels because of Aero India, around 150 investors from 14 countries are here for Invest Karnataka.
| Photo Credit: K. BHAGYA PRAKSH
With Bengaluru hosting a range of big events in February, the tourism sector and hospitality industry are having a bumper month. According to sources, the hospitality industry is expected to have a business of over ₹500 crore by the end of the month.
The ongoing Aero India, and the seventh edition of ‘Invest Karnataka’ have provided a much-needed boost to business tourism, according to the Tourism Department. The department also sees this trend as an opportunity to invest in and promote meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism.
“Unlike leisure travelling, when people come for business, they travel in an unplanned manner and would like to see at least one or two destinations. For this purpose, we have put up stalls in both the events and we are getting a lot of activity,” said Janardhana H.P., Joint Director, Tourism Department.
He also said that most of the hotels in Bengaluru are booked owing to these events and more people are visiting restaurants, and other places in the city. “Most people who have come for business plan to travel between Friday and Monday. With all this, tourism as a sector is really benefitting,” he added.
Confirming this, P.C. Rao, president, Bruhat Bengaluru Hoteliers’ Association (BBHA) said that there was 100% occupancy in all star hotels and most other hotels in the city.
“After the aero show and Invest Karnataka-2025, we also have Karnataka International Tourism Expo (KITE) between February 26 and 28. While delegates, pilots, and Ministers are staying in hotels because of Aero India, around 150 investors from 14 countries are here for Invest Karnataka. For KITE, we will be hosting 100 foreign delegates and 250 Indian delegates,” he said.
Apart from accommodation, hotels have also struck the jackpot with dinner parties and food catering for these events.
It’s 50:50 for bars and restaurants
While business events have brought in more patrons to bars and restaurants, the local footfall has reduced owing to the same events and even musical concerts which have been taking place since the beginning of this year.
“When it comes to these events like Aero India or music concerts, the tickets are quite expensive. Some even travelled to other cities for some concerts. Hence, their monthly budget has been affected, and we are not seeing the local crowd as much as usual. But we are getting a lot of outsiders this month and the industry is benefitting from it,” said Chethan Hegde, who heads the Bengaluru chapter of National Restaurants’ Association of India (NRAI).
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, restaurant owners are optimistic about the footfall increasing during the weekend.
Published – February 13, 2025 07:00 am IST
