Time to explore own country

Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) India's largest integrated travel services company, witnessed a 5.7x growth in Holiday sales, 7.6x growth in MICE sales, 3.5x growth in Sterling Holidays sales, and 7.5x growth on Corporate Travel turnover.

With the opening up of the economy, increased vaccine coverage/global acceptance and easing of domestic travel restrictions, along with the reopening of 18 international destinations like the UAE, UK, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Egypt, Turkey, Mauritius, South Africa, etc there's alot to look forward to in 2022.

The company's focus on Digitisation across lines of business pays off as a majority of customers/transactions continue to be served via digital platforms.

Romil Pant Senior Vice President, Leisure Travel, Thomas Cook (India) Limited shares an outlook for travel in 2022

Would you say that people took to revenge travelling in 2021 after all the restrictions in 2020 ?

People are traveling, and there is a lot of domestic travel going on, which I always think is good because the industry needed that kind of influence and support, which I believe it is not getting from the government. So frankly, I really wouldn't like to call it 'revenge travelling', but I think it is more like exploring your own country.

Domestic travel saw a boom in 2021, what's your take on it?

My personal belief is that India has everything right here, it has whatever is globally out there as well. Right from the snows up North, to the beaches down South, and then there's wildlife, the pilgrimages, we have everything in this country. If we talk about wildlife, we have many National parks and reserves; when talk about beaches, we have the most wonderful beaches in the world.

In the Andamans, there is a beach in Havelock, which is in Conde Nast's global 10.

A lot of us tend to go outside of India and explore the 200-year old castles or forts and say "how ancient!" We have got 5000 year old forts across this country.

So, I think a lot of people have discovered India and somewhere the push is also coming from the government with the "Dekho apna desh" campaign.

A lot of state tourism boards have been much more proactive because everybody has realised that tourism gets not just tourist benefits but also economic benefits to the state and economy.

If that realisation drives home faster across the country, the level of domestic travel can be unprecedented. It's just a matter of time because the sky has opened up. You see the number of flights connecting smaller cities everyday; we now see announcements of new flights as well.

Even the fear among people that we should or should not travel, has completely gone from their system?

Yeah, in fact my belief on this is that it is like when you are in your colony when you are in your house you feel much safer so if I was to go down to Goa or to Andamans, my comfort level within the country is always much higher. If something were to happen, there is always backup available. The language, the culture is similar so that comfort level of staying at home and yet exploring happens when we travel in India.

It's great to be in your own country, rather than being outside because of language, culture, food, medical protocols, even if it's a simple crocin that you need.

How come you are focusing on adventure travel and wildlife?

This is the perfect time to start your adventure travels. Dividing it into multiple segments, one being wildlife segment within adventure, the other is the rafting segment or the adventure sports segment rather, the third could be the segments like biking, sea and beach activities like scuba and so on.

So now is the time to plan your trip and make your reservations, whether it is in Kaziranga or Kutch, Gir, or central India, where you have all the ability to crave the big three parks, which are Pench, Kahna, and Bandhavgarh.

On the wildlife side, everything has opened up; you just have to make the bookings according to the process and not disturb the wildlife.

On the beach side, all activities such as scuba and deep sea diving, fishing, and so on are available. So again, adventure is fully operational now.

The Bir has started sky diving, paragliding, and ballooning near Delhi and Jaipur, and I think somewhere in Maharashtra, in Nasik and Nagpur.

In Benaras, there is Dev Deepawali where all the ghats are lit up with diyas. It's a sight to see.

What is the overall feeling for the travel industry in 2022?

The more things open up, not just in India but globally, the more travel will happen, and more travel brings in revenues for everyone, jobs for everyone, and infrastructure growth for everyone, so we are more than hopeful that inbound / outbound and all travel will begin sooner or later. We are sincerely hoping things will work with an optimistic and pragmatic view on 2022.