With geopolitical conflicts and resulting diversions of flight and cancellations that affect the travel feeling, adding to the United States represses on the visa candidates for students and a serious plane crash, the quarter from April to June was a demanding period for the house travel sector.
However, travel feelings are returning to normal and the second half of the year should end with a positive note, he told Et in an interview Mahesh Iyer, MD and CEO of Thomas Cook (India). Iyer supervised the operations at the company after Madhavan Menon retired as president in February following a 25 -year period. Menon continues as a non -executive president of the company.
“Some sectors indicate a slowdown, while others report a lower job creation and even work cuts. In the short term, there may be a little softness, but the long -term travel story remains intact,” Iyer said. “People have continuous aspirations to travel. There are money. See the infusion of liquidity of the RBI and the company’s capex cycle. We expect H2 of the tax year 2026 to be better than H1,” he said.Thomas Cook (India) recorded an income consolidated by operations of “2,453 crores in the quarter of June, growing by 15% on an annual basis. The consolidated net profit remained flat at about ’73 .4 Crore.
The company has recorded an increase in sales in its travel services sector and in free time hospitality, which includes holidays in pounds and natural paths, but Forex revenues have decreased by 7% in the quarter.“We showed resilience in all segments, but the Forex business did not have a great quarter. We moved from Delhi airport and the student season was hit. The Haj business was also 25% lower than last year,” said Iyer.
He noticed a strong potential in level II and -iii markets of India, which are currently growing by about 20-25%. “Methos are also growing double-digit, but their growth rate is about 10-12%. Given the improvement of regional connectivity, growth rates can be much higher,” he added.
In the meantime, an increasing number of travelers prefers personalized holidays, with destinations without visa or easy visa that become the norm.
“More and more customers want to build their own packages and we are building technological tools to help them book and pre-prey on their travels,” he said. “The travel industry has no entry barriers and anyone with some technological tools can put together a product. But what is important is to manage the needs and expectations of customers until the last point.”
Iyer said that the company’s national activity was also hit in the last quarter due to travel interruptions in the Kashmir’s key market, after the terrorist attack of Pahalgam on April 22. “Our mix of national reservations against international is about 15% domestic and 85% international and this will probably remain the same,” he said. “India is a vast market and we want to be relevant and keep the construction scale for some markets such as Himachal, Andamans and Goa in addition to Kashmir. If you spread too thin, do not get benefits as benefits of airlines, benefits of economies of scale.”
