Thomas Cook (India) Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan Menon said inbound travel from India’s G20 presidency, conferences, and exhibitions will boost domestic tourism growth.
According to Thomas Cook (India) Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan Menon, India’s domestic tourism development will continue and be boosted by inbound travel from its G20 chairmanship and more conventions and exhibitions.
He told PTI that summer in Europe and the US will also boost long-haul outbound tourism from India.
“Domestic tourism is here to stay and the reality is that we’re going to see more and more activity in the domestic space without a doubt,” Menon said when asked if post-COVID domestic tourism development would continue.
He noted that post-pandemic consumer behaviour, including living for today and not thinking about tomorrow, and strong economic confidence drove domestic tourism.
“The pandemic changed human behaviour. Home-based workers are increasing. “The domestic market is driving frequent breaks because people are spending more time with their families,” Menon added.
“My expectation is that people earlier would have done one international and maybe another domestic trip,” he added. Today, everything is different. Multiple domestic excursions, even weekend ones, are being discussed.
“But that doesn’t take away from the fact that you will see Indians travelling both short-haul and long-haul,” Menon said. Another key development is the so-called saver becoming a spender.
“Everything stems from their confidence in the economy,” he remarked. Not from anywhere. Not merely pandemic-driven. “People are confident that the economy is growing, their jobs are secure, and things will improve from here.”
Menon noted that rapid infrastructure development and hotel and airport construction around the nation are also fuelling growth.
India’s economic rise and global events would also boost tourism.
G20 is just another government event, and as India becomes an economic power, you’ll see more travel to India. That’ll matter. “India will be in the spotlight and attract more tourists,” Menon added.
He noted that international travel to India for government conferences and exhibits is another busy category.
Most people attended exhibitions abroad in the past. “We have the infrastructure to hold these exhibitions in India,” Menon added, mentioning Pragati Maidan in Delhi and the Jio World Centre in Mumbai.
He added many Indians had taken three-and-a-half-hour flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Thailand.
“The longer-haul is only starting now because it was winter through January to March in Europe and the fact that visas were not easy to obtain,” Menon said, adding that long-haul travel would increase in the current quarter.
Travel to Japan and Korea was a first-quarter anomaly. We sent 200 passengers to Japan annually. Nearly 1,300 travellers travelled to Japan per month this year. “So different trends,” he said.
He said group travel is expanding and tailored travel is growing in all sectors.
