Global slowdown coupled with terror attacks & swine flue had marred travel agencies in the year bygone. But with green shoots of recovery showing up, the smile is back on a travel agent’s face, says neha saraiya
Sanjay Datta, a Delhi-based travel agent (who has been running his travel agency under the name of Airborne Travels since 1983), can be seen in his office, located at Defence Colony, even before 9 in the morning these days. This, in fact, is in sharp contrast to the schedule that he had been following regularly for over a year and half now (reaching his office not before 12 noon).
Well, the reason for his punctuality is not that he has suddenly realised the importance of being early in office. In fact, it is a more obvious one than that, business is back on the upswing in the Indian hospitality industry after a long lull. That is evident when you see how he is now selling over 50 tickets on a single day these days against the miniscule number of 15-20 tickets that he could hardly manage a year back.
No doubt, the past two years have been exigent for the travel and tourism industry in India. Global economic slowdown, fall in premium traffic, mounting fuel surcharges, et al, have affected the travel agents’ businesses in India in a big way. In fact, as per the latest data from the Ministry of Tourism, tourist arrivals in India have gone down by an alarming 16.6% and 12.9% (year-on-year basis) in January and March 2009 respectively. “Last year our revenues had fallen drastically, as much as by 60-70% equalising with the passenger drop of 30%,” agrees Datta.
Not only domestic travel agencies, but even international travel agents are in the same boat. As Magdi Mohamed, Operation Manager, Eastmar Tours & Holidays (a Dubai-based travel agency) puts his case forward, “In the beginning, travel agencies like us used to close around 80,000 files in a year for Egypt. But last year, that number fell by 20-40%.”
However, with the market pulse belatedly getting back to normal in the last six months, travel agents across the country have finally started breathing a sigh of relief. In fact, as per a recent report by Travelport GDS, Indian travel agents were successful in converting more than 78% of enquiries into actual sales and generated more revenue from recreational travel (58%) than business travel (42%), out of which 74% came from repeat travel.
Sanjay Datta, a Delhi-based travel agent (who has been running his travel agency under the name of Airborne Travels since 1983), can be seen in his office, located at Defence Colony, even before 9 in the morning these days. This, in fact, is in sharp contrast to the schedule that he had been following regularly for over a year and half now (reaching his office not before 12 noon).
Well, the reason for his punctuality is not that he has suddenly realised the importance of being early in office. In fact, it is a more obvious one than that, business is back on the upswing in the Indian hospitality industry after a long lull. That is evident when you see how he is now selling over 50 tickets on a single day these days against the miniscule number of 15-20 tickets that he could hardly manage a year back.
No doubt, the past two years have been exigent for the travel and tourism industry in India. Global economic slowdown, fall in premium traffic, mounting fuel surcharges, et al, have affected the travel agents’ businesses in India in a big way. In fact, as per the latest data from the Ministry of Tourism, tourist arrivals in India have gone down by an alarming 16.6% and 12.9% (year-on-year basis) in January and March 2009 respectively. “Last year our revenues had fallen drastically, as much as by 60-70% equalising with the passenger drop of 30%,” agrees Datta.
Not only domestic travel agencies, but even international travel agents are in the same boat. As Magdi Mohamed, Operation Manager, Eastmar Tours & Holidays (a Dubai-based travel agency) puts his case forward, “In the beginning, travel agencies like us used to close around 80,000 files in a year for Egypt. But last year, that number fell by 20-40%.”
However, with the market pulse belatedly getting back to normal in the last six months, travel agents across the country have finally started breathing a sigh of relief. In fact, as per a recent report by Travelport GDS, Indian travel agents were successful in converting more than 78% of enquiries into actual sales and generated more revenue from recreational travel (58%) than business travel (42%), out of which 74% came from repeat travel.
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