Marriott International is eyeing more than a billion dollars in revenue from its India operations in 2023, as reported by ETHospitalityWorld.com.

In an interview with the media outlet, Marriott International president for Asia Pacific (excluding China) Rajeev Menon said that the hotel company expects a top-line revenue of Rs9bn ($1.09bn).

In the first half of 2023, the company experienced a 56% growth in revenue per available room in India compared with 2022 and a 35% increase compared with 2019.

Menon said: "From our perspective, India is a decades-long growth story and much of it is driven by the strong domestic market and the resurgence that we are seeing.

"It was one of the first markets where domestic air travel bounced back to pre-Covid levels very quickly. We are seeing a pretty strong lift in international travel as well."

Menon added that the company's recent hotel openings in hotels in Shillong, Coorg, Rishikesh, Amritsar, etc., highlight the potential of secondary and tertiary markets of India.

Furthermore, several projects are in the pipeline, including a Marriott Hotel in Ayodhya, a Courtyard in Gwalior and two hotels in Guwahati.

Currently, Marriott has 145 hotels in India, consisting of 27,000 rooms and of these, ten opened this year.

Menon added that agreements for eight new hotels this year have already been signed, with more potential agreements currently in discussion.

Marriott runs 156 properties in South Asia and expects to open an additional 15 hotels by the end of 2024 in India.