India is a land of cultural diversity, every year thousands of tourist travel to India for enjoying the rich heritage of the country. The growth of tourism and hospitality sector has been phenomenal in the recent years. Due to this growth the inflow of tourists has increased. More tourists mean more waste. It is estimated that on an average an in house guest generates one kg of waste every day which is quite alarming figure. Hospitality Industry is an ever growing industry. In hospitality industry, managing generation of daily operational waste is a perpetual challenge. Every year a hotel spends huge amount of money in managing waste keeping in mind the health and safety of the staff the hotels need separate space to store and sort waste. As a practice the waste that is generated in the industry goes to landfill, but the current study is focused on understanding the use of food waste under CSR practices.
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Today, hospitality industry has become a colossal phenomenon at global level accounting for GDP, employment generation, social up-liftment, betterment of society and giving a significant boost to tourism. Hospitality is a part and parcel of everyday life. It is present in almost all the fields’ weather it is a hospital or a bank. In today’s modern world and in tough competition the customer has a lot of choice, but the edge is gained by the companies or industries that are giving the best hospitality to its customers.
Hospitality industry recently became a silver lining in the cloud of the world economy, the income of middle-class has suddenly surged up due to which the trend of eating out has changed in short time of this decade. Further the tourism industry has started offering holiday packages which are economical to a low budget tourist also the travel companies are offering travel on EMI thus the travel and tourism industry has seen a boost as a person who could not afford to travel for tourism purpose before is exploring different holiday packages which are falling in his/her budgets.
Way-back in 1970s India had international hotel chains like Holiday Inn The Marriott, Intercontinental which were preferred choice of global travellers. India made significant pace in this field by launching its own domestic hotel brands of international competency. Today India has more National hotel brands than international brands. Hotel IHC, Oberoi, and the ITC group have become a global icon and contributed more to the hospitality industry in India than any other brands. Hospitality sector of India is progressing at a very fast pace. It is one of the most profitable industries which is contributing to the economy of the country. Hotels provide world class services to the guests. One of the important aspects of hospitality industry is that it has managed to attract foreign clients like Accor Group, Starwood hotels, Marriott; Cabana hotels etc. in the past few years and some of the domestic companies which are leading the Indian hospitality sector are ITC Hotels, Bharat Hotels, Indian Hotels Company (IHCL).
India has the potential to become the number one tourist destination in the world with the demand growing at 10.1 per cent per annum, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has predicted. The WTO (World Travel Organisation) predicts that India will receive 25 million tourists by year 2015. According to FHRAI the occupancy level of India shifted from 59.3% in 2011/12 to 57.8% in 2012/2013. In 2013/14 the occupancy level progressed to 58.9%. In 2013/14, branded hotel supply surpassed the 100,000 room’s milestone. Nationwide existing supply recorded 103,855 rooms as of March 31, 2014, an increase of around 10.2% (9,600 branded rooms) over the previous year. Amid the main cities of our nation Mumbai has the topmost positions in terms of branded room inventory (13,022) in India, shadowed at close quarters by Delhi (12,025) (excluding Gurgaon, NOIDA, Greater NOIDA), Bengaluru (9,877), Chennai (7,105). In a survey conducted in India it was found that, Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces had a total of 12,000 rooms in various of its brands, ITC Hotels followed close by, Carlson Rezidor, Starwood Hotels, Marriott International in that order. (Hospitality, Biz India;, 2014).
In 2013 the international tourist’s arrival was at 6.9 million and the number went up by 3.54 million in between January to June 2014. Thus an increase of 5.9% was seen when compared with previous year. The top three international source markets for India continued to be USA (15.6%) followed 1 by UK (11.62%) and Bangladesh (7.53%). Further, he suggested that scheme of tourist on arrival visa which may be extended from 11 to 180 countries and a relaxation of mandatory 60 day gap for frequent foreign travellers to India will boost the inbound travel in near future. Domestic travel expenditures generates approximately 80.7% of Direct tourism GDP ($1,145 million) marking an boost of nearly 10% In the year 2012 (Khanna, 2014).