Hospitality and tourism: Follow one offering through the chain
Hotels, restaurants, airlines, attractions and booking sites serving travellers
Follow one offering through the chain
A Goa holiday at a Taj hotel
Follow one family's beach break from hotel capital and booking systems to the flight, the resort and the beach shack.
Someone else may own the hotel
630IHCL hotels in portfolio, FY26The resort building may not belong to the Taj brand at all. IHCL, which runs Taj, follows a capital-light strategy, managing many hotels that others own and finance so it can grow without tying up money. It had 630 hotels in its portfolio and 255 more in the pipeline at the end of 2025-26, after signing 250 that year.1
Constraint A new hotel takes years to plan and build, so rooms lag peak demand, and coastal zone rules limit construction near Goa's beaches. Cem CementSt SteelCu CopperAl AluminiumPnt Paints and coatingsReal estateConstruction and infrastructureFinance: banking, insurance, marketsSeats and rooms in shared systems
85-95%GDS bookings handled by three firmsBehind the booking sit reservation systems most travellers never see. Airline seats are sold to agents through global distribution systems, and three firms, Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport, handle 85-95% of GDS bookings worldwide, and about 90% of agency airline bookings pass through a GDS, the UK competition authority found in 2020. Hotels use property management and channel software that push room prices to every site.2
Constraint Switching a reservation system takes years, and airlines must contract with all three GDS firms to reach travel agents. Software and IT servicesData centres and cloudBooked on a travel app
$10.4bnMakeMyTrip gross bookings, FY26The family compares fares and rooms on MakeMyTrip, a leading Indian online travel agency that earns commission from hotels and airlines and margins on holiday packages. Its gross bookings reached about US$ 10.4 billion in the year to March 2026, and adjusted operating profit rose 13% to US$ 188.8 million.3,4
Constraint Commissions are a large cost for hotels; in Europe, Booking.com took 66% of hotels' online travel agency bookings in HOTREC's 2026 study. Software and IT servicesFinance: banking, insurance, marketsAI and digital platformsTwo in three fly IndiGo
65.4%IndiGo domestic share, September 2026Many visitors fly in, to Dabolim or the newer Manohar International Airport at Mopa. In September 2026 Indian airlines carried 118.23 lakh domestic passengers, and IndiGo took 65.4% of them, with the Air India group at 26.8%. Domestic traffic for January to September 2026 was 0.8% below the same months a year earlier.5
Constraint Jet fuel is refined from crude, so oil shocks lift fares, and aircraft and engine deliveries from a few makers cap seat growth. Oil Crude oilHVO Renewable diesel and SAFAl AluminiumTi TitaniumJet Aviation propulsionTransport and logisticsVehicles, ships, rail, aircraftFinance: banking, insurance, marketsRooms, kitchens and pools run by Taj
₹9,971crIHCL revenue, FY26At the resort, IHCL's staff run rooms, restaurants, spa and events, keeping room revenue where it owns or leases the hotel and earning fees where it only manages. The group earned a record ₹9,971 crore of revenue in 2025-26, up 16%, with a 34.9% EBITDA margin, and same-hotel revenue per available room rose 9%.1
Constraint Air conditioning, laundry and pools make resorts heavy users of power and fresh water, both stretched in Goa's dry season before the monsoon. H₂O WaterFm Fishmeal & shrimpHFC Fluorochemicals and refrigerantsHP Heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigerationLPG CNG, LPG and biogas distributionFood and beverage processingSoftware and IT servicesFinance: banking, insurance, marketsBeaches, churches and shacks
1.08 crGoa tourist arrivals, 2025Outside the hotel the family spends on beach shacks, boat trips, spice farms and the churches of Old Goa. The state counted 1.08 crore tourist arrivals in 2025, of whom 5.18 lakh were foreign, about 5% (calculated). Scheduled international flights numbered 1,784, and 189 charter flights brought another 40,336 foreign tourists.6
Constraint A small state absorbing 1.08 crore visitors a year strains water, waste handling and roads in the peak winter months. Fm Fishmeal & shrimpPp Pepper & spicesCnt Coconut oilOil Crude oilFood and beverage processingTransport and logisticsMedia and entertainmentWhat the chain shows
Holiday money flows increasingly to asset-light brands and booking platforms; India's upside is foreign demand, only about 5% of Goa's visitors in 2025.
Sources
- IHCL announces financial results for Q4 and full year FY 2025-26 Indian Hotels Company Limited, 2026
- Anticipated acquisition by Sabre Corporation of Farelogix Inc.: Final report UK Competition and Markets Authority, 2020
- MakeMyTrip clocks 13% rise in adjusted operating profit at $188.8 million in FY26 Outlook Business, 2026
- Booking.com has 66pc market share and Expedia 17pc of online hotel bookings (HOTREC European Hotel Distribution Study 2026) Travel Extra, 2026
- Domestic air traffic drops 6.5% in September; year-to-date passenger numbers turn negative (DGCA data) Business Today, 2026
- Goa records strong and sustained growth in tourist arrivals: 2025 figures reflect continued momentum Department of Tourism, Government of Goa, 2026