ITC Hotels announces ambitious goal to operate 250 hotels with over 22,000 keys by 2028, accelerating growth plans as it celebrates 50 years in hospitality and emphasises sustainability and domestic tourism expansion.
ITC Hotels is sharpening its expansion ambitions, saying it now aims to operate 250 hotels with more than 22,000 keys within five years as it marked 50 years in hospitality at its third annual general meeting. The new target is more ambitious than the company’s earlier public goal of 220 properties and more than 20,000 keys by 2030, signalling a faster pace of growth as the hotel chain builds on its post-demerger momentum.
Chairman Sanjiv Puri said the group would continue with an asset-right strategy, using a mix of owned projects, acquisitions and management contracts while widening its reach in pilgrimage, heritage, leisure and business markets. The pipeline now includes 78 hotels and more than 8,000 keys, with planned developments in Puri, Visakhapatnam and Delhi, an expansion in Bhubaneswar, a hotel acquisition in Kerala and a newly signed property in Ahmedabad. Additional agreements cover Ayodhya, Bodh Gaya, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Jaipur, Rajgir, Shahjahanpur and Shirdi.
Puri said India’s tourism industry is entering a period of sustained expansion, helped by better infrastructure, stronger domestic travel, urban growth and rising household spending. He said domestic tourism has crossed 4 billion visits, compared with about 2.3 billion before the pandemic, and projected domestic visitor spending to rise from INR 19 trillion in 2026 to INR 36.5 trillion by 2036. He also pointed to India’s long-term aim of drawing 100 million inbound visitors by 2047.
The company is also leaning on what it calls Responsible Luxury, with sustainability remaining a core part of its brand message. ITC Hotels said it operates 25 LEED Platinum-certified properties, the largest such portfolio in the world, along with 13 LEED Zero Water-certified hotels and 12 LEED Zero Carbon-certified hotels. For the year under review, it reported total income rising 19% to more than INR 4,331 crore and profit after tax climbing 29%. Over the past two years, the company said it has signed 63 hotels and opened 29 properties.
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