The 27th edition of India International Leather Fair was launched in Chennai yesterday. The annual flagship event of the leather industry is the largest fair in Asia with participants from 19 countries and the domestic industry showcasing leather products and equipment. And the fair will go on till February 3.

Hotels are sold out for the entire week due to the India International Leather Fair. “It’s really very heartening. Unlike in the last three years, this time almost all four and five star hotels in the city are sold out. Even the new additions to the city hotel rooms during the year are absorbed,” said the General Manager of a luxury hotel in the city.

There are about 3,000 star-rated hotel rooms in the city, including the 250 rooms added by Hyatt Regency a few months ago.

Usually, every year during this time when the Fair happens in the city, hotel rooms get sold out. But beginning 2008, though occupancy rates went up, no hotel was sold out. “This time, surprisingly rates also got better. It seems, we are back in business,” says the head of another leading hotel.