
Budget boosts sentiment in hospitality stocks. Cricket World Cup in focus
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Union Budget 2026-27 put the spotlight on the tourism and hospitality sector. The finance minister proposed measures to strengthen the tourism ecosystem, with focus on medical tourism, skilling and institutional capacity-building.
In reaction, the stocks of listed hotel companies such as EIH Ltd, ITC Hotels Ltd and Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd rose 2-4% on 1 February. It is expected that these measures will gradually boost the prospects of the Indian tourism sector, buoying key earnings parameters such as average room rates (ARR) and occupancy levels. Recall, the government has already rationalized the goods and services tax on hotel rooms for select tariff rates in September to make tourism more affordable.
“The announcements made in the Union Budget for the tourism and hospitality sector are sentimentally positive. Going ahead, in Q4FY26, the 2026 ICC Men's T20 cricket World Cup is a near-term demand trigger for hotels in cities where matches are scheduled," said Jinesh Joshi, analyst at PL Capital. The 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from 7 February to 8 March 2026.
“Also, Q4 is typically a good quarter for companies which have more business focus in their portfolio." Further, the stocks of Easy Trip Planners Ltd and Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd also rose intraday but later gave up some of those gains. To encourage foreign travel, the finance minister proposed to reduce the tax collected at source (TCS) rate on the sale of overseas tour programme packages to 2%. It also proposed reducing TCS for education and medical purposes.
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