The Delhi government said it would allow restaurants to operate round the clock in the Delhi Aerocity business district near the Delhi airport. The area currently has several 4- and 5-star hotels operating throughout the day and night, as well as office and retail spaces meant for the convenience of travelers.
Behind the New Focus on Indian Regional Markets - India Report
30.10.2024 - 03:15 / skift.com / Virgin Atlantic / Bulbul Dhawan
Earlier this month, Thomas Cook India’s company – SOTC Travel – unveiled a series of 6 regional film campaigns around travel. The campaign was launched to mark its 75th anniversary and to reinforce the company’s focus on regional markets in India.
“India is not a single market. There are multiple markets within India,” said SD Nandakumar, SOTC Travel’s President and Country Head, Leisure Travel and MICE. “Most of our leading products cater to the pan-India segment, but we have seen that the regional markets need a lot of differentiated products.”
Nandakumar told Skift that the idea behind the film campaigns was to connect with customers in these markets in a way that caters to their unique needs. “We do not believe that products catering to these markets are niche at all. I think these are all part of our mainstream offerings,” he said.
Aspirational Travelers: The regional markets are probably more aspirational when it comes to travel than the metro cities, he said. “People really want to travel and explore. India has moved away from the four gateway cities and it’s time for us to recognize that.”
With many countries offering visa on arrival and visa-free access to Indians, it is becoming easier to travel. “So people from smaller towns find it much easier to travel internationally without either having to worry about visa processes or needing to travel through a main gateway city,” he explained.
He also spoke about the increase in disposable income. “The disposable income in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities is growing and so, the bucket list does not include traveling to Indian metro cities, as was true a few years ago. Now, they want to go to international destinations like the Middle East for their first holidays. Social media also played a key role in rising demand for travel in these markets.”
Talking about travel credit cards and their use to get better deals, he said that a vast majority of people in smaller cities in India are traveling for the joy of it. “They are not traveling to say that they saved some money using hacks,” he explained.
These markets are also moving towards premiumization. He noted that Indians tend to spend a lot on travel, not only on travel arrangements, but also on the clothes that they wear on these trips, what they eat, and how they eat.
“The cost of travel has gone up compared to pre-pandemic levels, but that is not stopping anybody because the rate of growth of income is higher than the growth rate of airfares and other expenses.”
Virgin Atlantic has launched its second daily direct flight between London Heathrow and Mumbai. With this, the airline’s capacity on the route will double. The new service is being operated on the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, the airline
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