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Purpose – The paper aims to provide an overview of the facts and trends relating to the Indian hospitality industry. It also seeks to identify the key strategic and financial issues that hoteliers are currently facing and to introduce the theme issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws facts and emerging trends from various official reports and collates key issues as highlighted by the theme issue contributors. All the papers in the theme issue identify salient points after rounds of discussions with practitioners. Findings – Some of the key emerging areas are risk management, cost management, land management and policies, revenue management, growth challenges and innovative practices arising from an extended inflationary period. Practical implications – With domestic hoteliers in an expansion mode and foreign operators' intention of investing in India, the paper is of interest to hoteliers and policy makers interested in knowing about emerging and topical issues relating to this market. Originality/value – There are relatively few prior studies relating to the strategic and financial issues affecting the hospitality industry in India – particularly in the context of practitioner involvement. The theme issue involves senior practitioners in the review from the outset and this approach offers a significant contribution to applied research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The study seeks to explore the factors which influence the consumer attitude and behaviour towards green practices in the lodging industry in India and also to explore the consumers' intentions to pay for these practices. Design/methodology/approach - A quantitative and qualitative research methodology using a questionnaire along with secondary research has been proposed. A structured questionnaire has been used using convenience-sampling techniques from National Capital Region in India. Correlation and factor analysis has been used to explore consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards green practices in the lodging industry. Findings - The consumers using hotel services are conscious about environmentally friendly practices in India. They patronise the hotels that have adapted green practices though not compromising on service quality. The consumers would prefer to use lodging that follows these practices but are not willing to pay extra for these services. Indian hotels have the competitive advantage over similar products if they follow green practices. Practical implications - The hotels would have to invest in environmentally friendly practices and look at long-term gains. The government needs to acknowledge and institutionalise the practice by instituting rewards and offering benefits in taxes. Originality/value - The paper attempts to bring out facts regarding customer buying behaviour towards green practices in the Indian hotel industry. The resource scenario in India is grim with regard to the water and sanitation. The tourism industry has a big responsibility in ensuring that business models adopted are sustainable in the long run and hence the need to imbibe green practices as a preferred business model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]