The Hindu Business Line : Thomas Cook eyes big growth in domestic tourism

Coimbatore, Feb. 23 Domestic tourism is growing rapidly and is expected to catch up with outbound travel in the coming years, according to Mr Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, Mumbai.

He said his company, which plans several tour packages to capitalise on the growing demand, expects to earn about Rs 300 crore annually from domestic tourism in the next five years.

Mr Menon told Business Line that his company would bank on quality and reliability of service to grow its business in the domestic tourism sector.

TCIL’s outbound tourism business is currently worth about Rs 300 crore annually. Mr Menon expects the company’s domestic travel business to grow and match this revenue over the next five years.

The acquisition of LKP Forex and Travel Corporation of India (TCI) has enabled the company to offer a gamut of services.

On the growth of travel industry, he said holiday travel in India was booming and the business was growing at 25-30 per cent a year. It was difficult to fix the size of travel industry owing to its fragmented nature. While 70 per cent of the industry was controlled by small travel agents, the larger players accounted for the rest.

Tier-II cities

With the economy on a roll, the travel bug seems to have bitten people living in smaller cities too, and the demand for foreign travel is growing dramatically in tier-II and III cities.

TCIL offers products for different segments such as first-time travellers, group travellers, repeat visitors and those who prefer to explore foreign locales on their own.

Mr Menon said during the first nine months last year, the company earned consolidated revenue of Rs 225.8 crore (Rs 121.3 crore) and profit after tax of Rs 30.5 crore (Rs 17.3 crore).

He expects the company to grow 30 per cent during 2007.

Asked about the high-pitched campaigns launched by various travel players including cash-back offers, free travel for child and extra destinations, he said tourists were becoming savvy and often compared the offers of two or three operators before deciding on a package.

He conceded that other than consumer courts there was no mechanism, such as the Lok Adalat for bank customers, to redress the grievances of people who may be dissatisfied with a tour.

He said Europe ranked as the top destination for group tours booked by his company followed by South-East Asia. Demand for tours to the US depended on visa.

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Thomas Cook eyes big growth in domestic tourism