Rajesh Magow travel tips

Take it easy, seems to be the mantra for Indian travelers as they plan their summer getaway for the upcoming holiday season. Shedding light on summer travel trends, online travel company MakeMyTrip observed that the average number of room nights per booking for the ongoing April-June quarter has increased for both domestic and outbound holiday packages, hinting at the fact that travelers prefer relaxed itineraries. “The average nights booked for outbound packages for the summer quarter is 27 percent higher than last year’s corresponding period, and almost 85 percent higher than the pre-pandemic average,” said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip. In domestic packages, too, MakeMyTrip observed a 54 percent increase in average room nights booked this year over the corresponding period in 2019. “The preference for relaxed itineraries has positively impacted average per-passenger spend. Travellers are seeking experience-led travel, resulting in more bookings with pre-booked activities,” Magow said. And even asinternational airfares from India have shot up, with some sectors witnessing an increase of over 50 percent compared to last year, Indian travelers are still considering summer travel. And then of course, there are the visa delays. MakeMyTrip notes that although Indians are interested in traveling to Europe, the top five destinations preferred by them are short-haul international locations — Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives, and the United Arab Emirates. On the domestic travel front, Goa, Kochi, Srinagar, Dehradun and Leh are the most sought-after destinations for MakeMyTrip users. “India’s rainbow offering of diverse cultures and landscapes, offering varied destinations to travellers, is coming to the fore in our booking mix,” said Magow. MakeMyTrip has also been witnessing strong traction for pilgrimage destinations such as Puri, Varanasi, Rishikesh, and Vrindavan. A trend that Oyo had also noted last year based on its booking data

The travel industry in India had a long wish list for the Union Budget released Tuesday: Industry status for tourism; a uniform tax rate for hotels; streamlined registration for online travel agencies; infrastructure status for hotels.

India’s rising middle class and higher disposable income have boosted spending on discretionary services, while the growing lower middle class has bolstered domestic travel, said Rajesh Magow, group CEO of MakeMyTrip, during an earnings call on Tuesday.

In February, the Indian government had allocated INR 24.5 billion ($293 million) to the tourism sector as part of the interim budget, a slight increase from the prior year’s initial allocation of INR 24 billion ($290 million). But the Union Budget also reduced the global promotion allocation by a staggering 97% to just INR 30 million ($361,000).

Corporate travel in India is booming – spending surged nearly 25% in 2023. And online travel companies are ramping up their efforts to profit from it.  

Indian online travel agency MakeMyTrip made a push Monday to go global: It has extended its services to over 150 countries, including the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, and France.

Singapore is making a push to attract Indian tourists. The Singapore Tourism Board has announced a series of partnerships with Indian companies, the latest an agreement Wednesday with fintech firm PhonePe.

A bulging middle class, a mega-rich 1%, and a rapidly growing population are swirling to potentially make India a tourism superpower. But the country’s largest online travel agencies are not going to go to war; rather, they’re in a race for who can leverage the growth opportunities first and then on a long-term basis.

The annual passenger capacity at Indian airports is set to increase by 60 million. This comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated new terminal buildings at 12 airports across the country.

Excitement is building as we draw closer to Skift India Summit, set to take place in Delhi next year on March 19-20. For the inaugural event, we’ve curated an exceptional lineup of speakers who promise to offer valuable insights and expertise in the travel industry.

Online travel agency MakeMyTrip announced that it is acquiring a majority stake in Indian intercity car rental company Savaari.

One of the segments that has started showing results for MakeMyTrip is its corporate travel platform, MyBiz.

Online travel company MakeMyTrip is rolling out a voice chat service powered by artificial intelligence (AI), becoming the country’s second major company after Tata-owned Air India to harness recent advances in generative AI. Last month, the airline said it is using GPT4 — the latest version of the revolutionary chatbot ChatGPT — to improve its FAQ section, pilot briefings, and more. MakeMyTrip will use Microsoft’s Azure Open AI technology for the chat, initially available in English and Hindi, the company said in a statement. The voice assistant will appear on the company’s mobile app and the front page of its travel site and is designed to help users book flights and holidays. “This Generative AI integration through our collaboration with Microsoft involves simple visual cues and voice commands in native Indian languages that will alter the landscape of travel bookings henceforth,” said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO of MakeMyTrip. The interface will analyze specific user requirements and sift through thousands of options to recommend more relevant holiday packages. For example, it can summarize hotel reviews and extract individual traveler impressions. The goal is to elevate the hotel booking experience by offering personalized and relevant information to the user without having to scroll through multiple reviews. 

Indian low-cost carrier GoFirst’s recent filing of voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings is unlikely to have a large impact on the market, said Rajesh Magow, co-founder, group CEO and director of online travel agency MakeMyTrip.

MakeMyTrip said Tuesday that all its travel segments have now grown past pre-pandemic levels, and that it posted its highest-ever quarterly gross bookings at $1.98 billion. Here are other highlights from the online travel agency’s quarterly results:

Editor’s Note: our