Investments tips

Indian online travel agency EaseMyTrip.com on Monday confirmed an investment in business-to-business (B2B) travel portal ETrav Tech.

The investor mania for special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, in the past two years cooled mighty quick, with most travel companies going public through this process plummeting in value since their stock market debuts.

Military planners describe moving equipment and personnel into a region where they plan to fight a war in as “setting the theater.” One might also apply the metaphor to hotel investment in 2023. Giant players like Blackstone and Starwood Capital Group are right now “setting the theater” for financial conquest, lining up capital and short-listing assets they want to buy in case optimal conditions fall into place later this year.

The UnTours Foundation recently launched a $10 million fund with Expedia Group and TUI Care Foundation to help scale tourism businesses embracing sustainable practices. 

Indonesian property firm PT MNC Land launched on Friday a 1,040 hectare (2,570 acre) tourism complex on Java island, where former U.S. President Donald Trump’s company will operate a hotel and a golf course.

Travel technology company Travelport revealed on Friday it had received a $200 million investment from its owners, Siris Capital Group and Elliott Management. Based in Langley, UK, the privately held company didn’t disclose its financial performance other than to say it had achieved “a strong first-quarter performance.”

Financial sector headwinds are creating fresh openings for private equity investments in aerospace, as suppliers’ need for capital to meet soaring demand for planes and parts risks further turbulence, executives said.

Trivago is continuing to focus on investment into the company, sacrificing some return on investment in the short term for what it’s aiming will make the company more competitive in the future. 

Investments in India’s hospitality industry are likely to surpass $2.3 billion over the next two to five years, with the addition of approximately 12,000 hotel rooms in 2023 alone. Real estate consulting firm CBRE South Asia’s report, Indian Hospitality Sector: On a Comeback Trail, predicts that the hotel room numbers are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 3.3 percent by 2025. Last month, three international hotel chains announced the debut of their luxury brands in the country. Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria and Minor Hotels’ Anantara brand are set to make their India debut in Jaipur, while Radisson has picked Hyderabad for the launch of itsRadisson Collection brand. The study further suggests that demand recovery is likely to outpace supply, benefiting key performance metrics of the hotel sector — such as occupancy rates, average daily rates, and revenue per available room — that are expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels in the coming year. For instance, occupancy in Indian hotels is expected to improve to 66 percent this year, according to hospitality research firm HVS Anarock’s latest report. India’s hospitality sector ended 2022 with occupancy in the 59-61 percent range — up 15-17 percentage points from the previous year, and a 94 percent growth in revenue per available room in 2022 compared with 2021. Some 166 new hotels with 14,885 rooms were signed in 2022, which is a 33 percent increase in brand signings by keys over the previous year. The government’s continued focus on reforms is also expected to further enhance the sector’s growth, with projections indicating that India’s tourism and hospitality sector may earn $50.9 billion in visitor exports by 2028, the CBRE report stated. 

Indian tourists to France will be able to pay for tickets to the Eiffel Tower and other attractions in rupees after both the countries agreed to use the Indian government’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Certares, a private equity firm that invests in travel, said on Wednesday it had closed its first real estate hospitality fund, with $284 million of equity commitments.

Capital One, which operates a travel portal and already invested $96 million in online travel agency Hopper last year, said it intends to invest $25 million through a convertible note in luxury hospitality company Inspirato.