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Thomas Cook India will continue to have a double-digit growth for the next fiscal as well, said Madhvan Menon, MD, Thomas Cook India.
According to him, the company is focusing on strengthening its balance sheet as the industry comes out of Covid. Quoting a recent Mckinsey report, Menon said that India’s travel will grow from 13 million this year, all the way up to 80 million in 2040. “If they discount that by 50 per cent, you’re talking about 3x growth. And if we even are able to have a small part of that 3x, if I did a CAGR, we’re talking of double-digit growth year on year.”
He explained that Thomas Cook India, which is into holiday packages, resorts chain (Sterling Holidays & Resorts), forex, insurance, destination management businesses will witness a double-digit growth on a year-on-year basis.
He said, the company’s cruise business is also doing exceptionally well. “Thomas Cook is the highest seller for Cordelia cruises and with the introduction of Costa’s domestic sailings, the India cruise segment is seeing a demand of 12-15 per cent vs the previous year. International cruising is witnessing a significant uptick with Thomas Cook & SOTC having surpassed their pre-pandemic numbers. The companies had launched an attractive free cruise offer on select Europe group tours. Cruises have seen strong uptick from the companies’ cruise segment as well with mid-large movements of about 500, to destinations like Italy and Spain.”
Growth in Q2
Thomas Cook India has reported a record growth in profit for July-September 2023 (Q2 FY24) to ₹76.6 crore from ₹4.9 crore in the same period last fiscal.
“If you look at other businesses, foreign exchange is firing on all cylinders as usual. We see double-digit growth there; Sterling is showing significant growth,” Menon said.
Menon said the company will focus on strengthening its balance sheet. “My priority right now is to strengthen the balance sheet of each of our units. Thomas Cook is already debt free and will continue to operate like this.”
Speaking about forward booking trends, he said that Thomas Cook India is witnessing 24 per cent growth for short haul and 44 per cent increase for long-haul destinations for winter as visa issues reduce globally.
“For the holiday season (which includes Christmas, New Year and the school holidays), we are 24 per cent up from a year ago, and you will appreciate domestic bookings can come in all the way till three days before travel. So we expect to grow this gap, which is currently 44 per cent even further, as we go into the holiday season.”
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