Hospitality sector may stay immune to AI risk

India's hospitality sector is likely to remain immune to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), said industry watchers and executives, as it embarks on a CAGR growth of 9.6 percent over the next five years, on the back of a rebound in tourism.

- GULVEEN AULAKH

In its latest projections, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), said that the Indian travel and tourism sector is expected to employ more than 63.9 million by 2035, up from 46.3 million in 2024.

"This is the only industry which may be immune to the impact of AI," the WTTC chief executive Julia Simpson said, while sharing the forecast last month.

The hospitality sector has been known to be a steady source of supply of human resources to sectors that require people-facing profiles such as hospitals and banking. However, new demand is coming in from sectors like flex-space and real estate.

There is another challenge that has come up - shortage of hotel staff and general managers to man the swathe of keys coming up over the next five years.

Hotel chains are sprucing up their internal training programmes while raising the level of campus recruitments for meeting the huge demand for workforce across the value chain.