Business travel likely to shrink further in near-term: MakeMyTrip CEO

In a Q&A, MakeMyTrip's Group CEO Rajesh Magow and Group CTO Sanjay Mohan talk about challenges for the travel sector in the age of Omicron, business travel shrinking further in the near term

MakeMyTrip’s Group Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Magow and Group Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Mohan talk to Neha Alawadhi about the challenges for the travel sector in the age of Omicron, business travel shrinking further in the near term, and the role of technology (tech) in revolutionising travel and tourism. Edited excerpts:

What are the broad trends you’ve seen in 2021? What is likely to spill over into the next year?

Magow: There is growing preference for offbeat destinations. Also born out of the pandemic is that 100 per cent of the workforce is unlikely to return to office anytime soon. That flexibility means you don’t have to wait for a long weekend to take a workcation: simply pack your bags and your laptop and check into a villa in the hills or a beach resort and operate from there. Destination travel to places close by is another emerging trend.

Mohan: Web check-in and online cab bookings will continue to spill over into the next year because they offer end-customers greater convenience and less crowding at airline counters. We have seen a lot of user-generated content on the Trip Ideas component we have built into the MakeMyTrip interface. We have been allowing zero cancellations. We have also built a lot of capabilities under the myTrips section, making it more self-serve-centric. 

What are some of the tech interventions in the past few years?

Magow: Apart from customer focus, the other important parallel track was built with a focus on growth coming out of the pandemic. We built myPartner to provide travel agents access to the widest selection of travel inventory and assistance in delivering enhanced booking experiences to their customers across markets. We help tick off your bucket list with TripMoney — a platform that offers holidays on EMIs. We help you explore top tourist places and plan your next holiday trip with Trip Ideas. The holiday planner was launched in the Gulf Cooperation Council (regional, intergovernmental political and economic union that consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, or UAE).

Mohan: We built multilingual capability. We launched our website in Arabic in the UAE to cater to people in that region. 

Sanjay Mohan, Group Chief Technology Officer, MakeMyTrip

What have been the lessons from the pandemic?

Magow: The pandemic is going to keep us on our toes for a while. It has reshaped corporate travel. Business travel is likely to shrink further as tech gets leveraged. It might take another two years to reach the pre-pandemic ‘normal’. My long-term view on travel continues to remain upbeat. The entry of a new player into the market, the Air India deal, and Jet Airways trying to revive are all robust signs. From a learning curve, the pandemic has taught us that a war chest of resources has to be ready to be unlocked.
 

How important is the issue of connectivity? Is there a larger conversation around how it impacts traveller experience, especially with workcations and staycations?

Magow: The number of smartphone users is at a historic high. The 5G network is going to be the next game changer. Some of the big players have been testing the fibre network and expanding the network, improving the quality of connectivity.

Mohan: We are aware that bandwidth is a constraint. We have to optimise the packet sizes. We are building our applications in a way they can cater to all customer segments, even on a low bandwidth.

What are the tech investments you are looking at in the new year?

Mohan: Over the past five years, tech product and user experience have grown threefold. From an on-year growth perspective, we have consistently clocked 20-25 per cent growth every year. That trend will sustain.