The COVID-19 pandemic had been a major blow to the tourism and hospitality industry. With the prolonged lockdown in place, our lives had come to a standstill and even after the initial lifting of restrictions, many people were skeptical to travel. But now, the international borders are reopening as well, and people are regaining their confidence for travelling. Chairman and MD of Thomas Cook India Limited, Mr. Madhavan Menon has told Curly Tales, “People today are less fearful and far more cautious. People are recognising that they need to move on. I think travel is going to come back. It will continue to be cautious.” Mr. Menon had a conversation with our CTO Kamiya Jani Verma and he has thrown light upon the current situation of the travel industry as well as the future possibilities. Read on to know more.
Travel Industry Bore The Brunt Of The Pandemic
Speaking about the effect the pandemic had on the travel industry, Mr. Menon said, “I define the travel industry from the time when COVID started to where it is today. It had gone from being a hero down all the way to zero. No revenues. On March 24, we saw our business literally grind to a halt. And I remember, we never counted revenue on anything else but on a monthly basis. We were suddenly watching our revenue on a day-to-day basis and there was no revenue.”
“The only saving grace was that we were all in it together. It has given us the opportunity to try and build our business from scratch again. I look at the positive and I look at the negative. I personally believe that the positives outweigh the negatives.” Mr. Menon added.
Domestic Tourism Is Gaining Momentum
If we look closer, a positive change that the travel industry witnessed after the pandemic is the increased focus on domestic tourism. People are now willing to travel within India and discover local gems. Considering this, Mr. Menon stated, “For many years I’ve always said that the domestic business actually grew much faster than any of the other businesses. But nobody ever paid attention to it because everybody talked about traveling overseas. That was more glitzy. I think if you went on a holiday let’s say to somewhere in India and came back and you did another holiday in southeast Asia or in Europe, you’ll talk much more about the European holiday than you will about your domestic holiday. Now we are caught in a situation where domestic holidays have become the norm and I actually believe that it’s a very welcome situation. People are going to discover that Indian holidays can offer the same experience as going overseas.”
Ensuring The Economic Viability
As Mr. Menon said, domestic tourism is here to stay and it’s going to be far more adventurous in the coming years. He added that since it’s here now, the travel industry can capitalize on it. “As an industry we have to ensure that domestic travel is economically viable to attract tourists.”
The Way International Travel Has Changed
The pandemic also has had its effect on international travel decisions. Certain international destinations have been drawing much more tourists now than the pre-COVID times. Elucidating this, Mr. Menon said, “Talk to any of my colleagues and they all would say when the border would open? Without a doubt it was the Maldives first. Again not a destination that attracted a lot of attention of Indian tourists suddenly is there because it’s the first destination that opened. Dubai also opened up, Dubai hot favourite of any Indian, and it was an affordable holiday so I don’t think Dubai will stop attracting people. I think that Dubai will retain its place in the Indian heart. It’s been around for a long long time so it will open up steadily. International travel is coming back.”
Strategising Future Travel: Thomas Cook & SOTC
When asked about Thomas Cook and SOTC’s strategy going forward to attract more customers, Mr. Menon confirmed that a major pillar of the strategy is to move towards a customer focus. “Our strategy, as I said earlier, is to capitalise on the opportunity that we could rebuild again. So we’ve each of our businesses across the board and each of our countries has focused on reimagining what we need to do because at the end of the day, as a consumer you’ll agree that you are now in a slightly more cautious environment.”, he said.
Unveiling the upcoming initiates of Thomas Cook and SOTC, he said that they are coming up with The Great Indian Holiday Sale. The sale will feature domestic destinations along with the Maldives and Dubai in it.
Provision Of COVID Insurance And Flexibility
Thomas Cook and SOTC are focusing on bringing people back into travelling and at the same time give them a better understanding of what India is about. Also, they are providing COVID insurance to their customers. Mr. Menon said, “A second element we have ensured is that we’ve provided COVID insurance. It’s very difficult to tell somebody not to interact. You’re going on a holiday, you can’t say stay in your room and don’t leave the resort. So we’ve insured people. A third element is, given all the uncertainties that exist or in case somebody falls ill, one needs flexibility. We put flexible features into our product to ensure that one feels safe enough to travel. We’ve not tried to do this on our own. This has been built with the help of Apollo Clinics who’s our partner. We’ve spoken to our insurance partners extensively to confirm that if something does go wrong and it requires hospitalisation, how we will deal with it. We want to assure every traveler that they are safe in our hands and we’ve addressed each of their requirements.”
Upcoming Offers For 2021
Speaking about upcoming offers, Mr. Menon said, “You need to watch Thomas Cook and SOTC space every day. There is something or the other coming up. Be it on our website, be it through Instagram, Twitter or through Facebook. We use every channel to communicate and we have deals. This is an industry coming out of a pandemic in the true sense. Each of us aspires to get our businesses restarted and the only way we can attract a customer is by putting offers out there.”
Have you also made your travel plans for 2021?