NEW DELHI: The Indian globetrotter is back with a bang on the world stage. Outbound travel from the country has recovered to pre-Covid levels and India is expected to be the fifth largest outbound market by 2027, according to MakeMyTrip group CEO Rajesh Magow. “This should lead to outbound being the fastest-growing component of overall Indian travel spends,” the CEO of the country’s largest online travel agency (OTA) said Tuesday.
Domestic travel is looking up too since 2020-21. “According to a Bernstein report, India has gradually been gaining share of the global travel market, now representing 2% of tourism receipts globally, up from 0.7% in 2000. Domestic travel in India is already the fifth largest globally and is expected to become the third largest by 2027,” he said.
MMT on Tuesday reported its highest ever quarterly bookings at $2,088.3 million in the in the period ended December 31, 2023, up 21.7% from $1,738.2 million in same period last fiscal. Similarly, it saw the highest ever quarterly revenue at $214.2 million in that period, up 27% from $170.5 million over a year ago. “During this seasonally strong quarter, we witnessed robust demand for leisure travel across all domestic and international destinations leading to the highest-ever quarterly gross bookings, revenue, and profit for the group,” Magow said.
“Our growth on a flown basis at 7.2% QoQ outpaced the market growth of 6%, allowing us to consolidate our market share at 30% plus levels in the domestic air market. Our accommodation business touched the highest ever single night check-ins of close to about 2 lakh people on the back of strong holiday demand during the quarter ended dec 31, 2023. We sold over 63,000 unique domestic hotels across 1,760 cities,” he said.
“Our international outbound business continues to scale well. During the quarter new direct flights to various destinations like Tashkent, Baku, and Bali have been announced and key international holiday destinations like Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia have announced waiver of visa for Indian travellers. This is likely to fuel greater demand for these international destinations in the times to come.”
Domestic travel is looking up too since 2020-21. “According to a Bernstein report, India has gradually been gaining share of the global travel market, now representing 2% of tourism receipts globally, up from 0.7% in 2000. Domestic travel in India is already the fifth largest globally and is expected to become the third largest by 2027,” he said.
MMT on Tuesday reported its highest ever quarterly bookings at $2,088.3 million in the in the period ended December 31, 2023, up 21.7% from $1,738.2 million in same period last fiscal. Similarly, it saw the highest ever quarterly revenue at $214.2 million in that period, up 27% from $170.5 million over a year ago. “During this seasonally strong quarter, we witnessed robust demand for leisure travel across all domestic and international destinations leading to the highest-ever quarterly gross bookings, revenue, and profit for the group,” Magow said.
“Our growth on a flown basis at 7.2% QoQ outpaced the market growth of 6%, allowing us to consolidate our market share at 30% plus levels in the domestic air market. Our accommodation business touched the highest ever single night check-ins of close to about 2 lakh people on the back of strong holiday demand during the quarter ended dec 31, 2023. We sold over 63,000 unique domestic hotels across 1,760 cities,” he said.
“Our international outbound business continues to scale well. During the quarter new direct flights to various destinations like Tashkent, Baku, and Bali have been announced and key international holiday destinations like Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia have announced waiver of visa for Indian travellers. This is likely to fuel greater demand for these international destinations in the times to come.”
