Thomas Cook India looks at over 25% growth this year

Travel major Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, which is focusing on smaller cities to expand its footprint, is looking at over 25 per cent growth in its overall leisure business this year, an official said on Wednesday.

"We are targeting over 25 per cent growth in overall business (in terms of revenue and bookings) both domestic and outbound segment in the current calendar year," its Senior Vice President (Leisure Travel) Romil Pant said.

Last year, its outbound (Indian travellers going abroad) business grew by 20-25 per cent while domestic business growth was higher though its base was relatively low, he said.

"In the first half of the current calendar year, our growth in outbound holiday business was over 25 per cent and our growth in domestic was to the range of 35-40 per cent. If I put it together, it would be around 26-27 per cent because contribution of domestics is relatively small," Pant said.

He also said that outbound segment contributed about 80 per cent to the company's leisure business while the share of domestic in the business was 20 per cent.

"We continue to look at a healthy mix of 70:30 over the next 2-3 years between outbound and domestic. They are complementing each other. In the domestic segment, there are some infrastructural challenges in order to scale it up," he said.

The travel company is also focusing on smaller cities particularly tier-I and tier-II cities across India to expand its footprint and securing businesses.

"Top 8-10 cities in India like Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and others contribute about 35-40 per cent of our business while Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Bhopal, Kochi and other tier II and tier III cities contribute about 60 per cent of our leisure business," he said.

The travel company has 268 outlets in India including its 70-odd own stores and franchise-based outlets.

With a strong year-on-year growth of over 25 per cent, the eastern market is its emergent source market and contributes 10 per cent to the company's leisure business, he said, adding that the demand from Kolkata continues to show growth of 10 per cent and this is complemented by emerging potential witnessed from Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Patna.

"We are expecting that in the next 2-3 calendar years, the eastern market's contribution of 10 per cent to our leisure business will grow to above 15 per cent. We see lots of headroom in the market while in other markets we are deeply penetrated," he added.

--IANS

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