A total of 178 new hotels across India's southern states will provide 14,500 new rooms by the end of 2012, according to the Southern India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA).
The association noted that the increase in rooms would help offset demand in cities such as Chennai and stop rates from rising too high in the near future.
South India has approximately 44,800 rooms from 595 star hotels, of which 243 are in Tamil Nadu, 189 in Karnataka, 116 in Andhra Pradesh, 37 in Kerala and ten in Puducherry.
The occupancy rate in Chennai is around 90% during the tourist season and 65-70% off season, according to SIHRA.
