The Hindu Business Line : Cox & Kings to brand mountain in the Alps

Mumbai, July 9 As a countdown to completing 250 years in the travel business, Cox & Kings has decided to lease a mountain in Switzerland and brand it under its own name as Mt. Cox & Kings.

Taking it over from its existing owner, the mountain will used by the company for a period of two years to promote outbound tourism from India.

With a slew of activities arranged on the mountain top, visitors can indulge in chocolate-making, glacier rides and Swiss folk dances with authentic Indian dinners arranged for them.

Expecting to generate additional revenues to the tune of almost Rs 50 crore as a result of this exercise, Cox & Kings has also lined up a promotional campaign to highlight its 250th year.

“No one has ever branded a mountain and we expect to generate additional revenues of Rs 50 crore from this exercise,” said Mr Peter Kerkar, Global CEO, Cox & Kings.

Betting on outbound tourism, the Rs 1,400-crore tour operator is expecting business to grow at 45 per cent this year.

According to Mr Kerkar, “The emergence of low-cost carriers has made travelling more affordable for Indians and outbound tourism has become the real growth driver for the business. As a result, we have unprecedented growth at 45 per cent on a yearly basis.”

However, inbound tourism continues to be dismal for the industry, hovering at growth rates below 10 per cent.

“The market has reached a point of saturation as there is shortage of hotel rooms. Besides, artificial demand has been created, as a result of which room rates have been hiked. We have managed to grow between 12 to 13 per cent in our inbound business while inbound tourism growth has been below 10 per cent for the industry at large,” said Mr Kerkar.

More consolidation

Mr Kerkar expects to see further consolidation among tour operators in the country. “Today just about 5-7 of the top tour operators control 10 per cent of the market. With over a thousand tour operators, we expect the number of players to consolidate just like the airlines industry, with less than ten players in this business,” said Mr Kerkar. Expecting the consolidation exercise to happen by default, Mr Kerkar sees the value-added services doled out by the traditional players standing them in good stead while the rest of the operators would automatically get weeded out due to their commission-based models.

“The tour operators who charge commissions will get phased out while the ones charging on a consolidated net plus basis are the ones who will remain in this business,” he said.

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