September 18, 2017 TnH Global

Thomas Cook India eyes strong growth potential of North India

· 25% increase in the Company’s Leisure Business
· Expands organically – opens 4 new outlets in NCR and Rajasthan

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., India’s leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company, in a focussed initiative to tap the strong potential of its North India source markets, has strengthened its presence with the opening of 4 new outlets in NCR’s Rajouri Garden, Pitampura, Lajpat Nagar and Jodhpur, Rajasthan. This expansion augments Thomas Cook India’s distribution and reach in North India to 42 consumer access centers: 13 owned branches and 29 Gold Circle Partner (franchise) outlets.

Thomas Cook India’s internal data has revealed high demand from India’s north markets, with strong growth of 25% for January- August 2017 against the same period of the previous year. The year has seen significant uptake for favorites like USA & Canada, UK, France, Switzerland and Asia’s Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia; equally for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Emerging strongly are destinations like Hungary, Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania, Japan and Bali, as also exotic locales like Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Thomas Cook’s consumer insights for North India indicate that the protagonist traveller of today is a clear value-seeker, with “brag-worthy” experiences driving preferences for engaging outdoor-adventure and nightlife. Family vacations have topped the holiday segment with a 40% growth, followed by a surge in cruise holidays with a impressive growth of over 35% this year. Cruise holidays for Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and Dubai have powered the growth from North this year with the key cruise lines being Star Cruises, Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean.

High demand was observed for Thomas Cook’s GIT/ group escorted tours and for its ad-hoc groups- comprising extended families, group of friends and millennials/ young working professionals. The millennial segment resulted in strong growth for destinations such as Bali, Maldives, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. Another interesting growth segment was Thomas Cook’s Travel Quest- The company’s educational/ study tours which operated student groups to Europe (UK, Germany, Netherlands and the Czech Republic) USA, and Asia’s Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, etc.

Rajeev Kale, ‎President & Country Head Leisure Travel & M.I.C.E at Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said “North India is a powerful source market for us at Thomas Cook India and we are witnessing strong growth of over 25% YoY across our Leisure Travel businesses lines. Our strategic intent is to maximise on this market potential via organic expansion and we’ve carefully selected high footfall centres for our new outlets in prime catchment locations within the larger NCR metro market; also Jodhpur in Rajasthan”.

He added, “Our 4 new outlets give our customers in North India (across families, business travellers, millennials, senior citizens, students and NRIs) access to Thomas Cook’s experts right at their doorstep!”