Providing an unmatched and sustainable luxury experience to the guest in the current economic environment, where global and domestic brands are charting their growth across India's skyline, is the biggest challenge to the hospitality industry. The opportunities for established hotels in the years ahead will emerge out of their understanding of the changing needs of the global traveller, providing a distinctive product offering and constantly upgrading their services, even as they retain associates and sustain green operations. The building blocks of the guest experience also have undergone a dramatic change with the advent of new technology such as smart phones and iPads, and with the ever-increasing focus on health and wellness. The world has shrunk into a handset via Google and mobile apps and this has swelled the tide of millennial travellers who not only seek luxury, but also are forever on the lookout for integrated holistic health and dining packages for a complete stay experience. Travellers today seek to explore more, giving the industry opportunities to provide distinctive stay experiences that are a cut above the rest. In this new marketplace, I see more bookings taking place via Online Travel Agents (such as Expedia and Booking.com) and I believe that in the next five to ten years, the numbers will double. China will be a huge market and I would like to see many more Chinese travellers coming to India, which is not happening now. The Chinese at present skip India, but they have the potential of becoming a big-spending market for our hospitality industry. Besides China, the other key markets for us will be the United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and Korea. Based on current trends, the hotel industry will continue to grow, albeit at a slow pace, and will be a significant contributor to India's GDP when the economy starts recovering. The Visa on Arrival initiative of the government will certainly help increase the number of international visitors to the country, which will in turn raise hotel occupancies. It's too early, though, to hazard a guess on the percentage of these new travellers who'll patronise the luxury segment. I also see a major growth in volumes both of business and leisure travellers coming to the top five-star hotels from the United States. Thanks to the improved political relations between India and the United States, The Imperial has seen a significant increase in the number of room nights booked by Americans -- it has gone up from 5,950 in 2012-13 to 7,082 nights in first eight months of the 2014-15 financial year. We live in the age of the millennial travellers (aged between 25 and 35), who are defining the future of the industry. They are bringing multi-generational travel back in fashion because they love to go around the world with their parents and grandparents. This surely will leave an imprint on tourism numbers and hotel occupancies in the years ahead. Of course, there will be blips like the fear of the Ebola virus, but governments must confront such emergencies in a structured way and not by spreading panic. Vijay Wanchoo is the Senior Executive VP and General Manager, The Imperial, New Delhi