All bright hopes for next year
Ashley Monteiro, Managing Director, Pathfinders Destinations, is optimistic of business growing in volumes in 2014. He talks to about the emerging travel trends in the industry...
How has 2013 been compared to 2012 for the Indian travel industry?
The Indian market is in recession and generally the mood is sombre. However, Pathfinders through strategic expansion of markets have clocked an impressive growth of 100% in 2013 over 2012 on a large sales base. The market in Thailand and South East Asia seems to have made a shift from packaged Group Tours to FIT and that shift was evident from the summer of 2013. We have been planning towards this shift from 2008 onwards and it is good to catch a wave before others even know of its existence.
Additionally, Pathfinders is a pure B2B play that has evolved to become a 3-in-1 seamlessly integrated business model. It has destination management companies (DMC), a wholesaling arm and a proprietary technology platform. This is a unique combination that is focussed on purely the business-tobusiness segment of the travel market. Also having organically grown from the DMC end of the business, the focus and perspectives on the business are geared to unlock value for a massive client base of small to medium-sized travel agents and tour operators sub-continent wide. What are the significant travel trends you are currently seeing in the industry?
The market is sluggish in major travel markets like Mumbai and Delhi and whatever business is being confirmed is even more price sensitive than before. The B and C category cities and towns are not as adversely affected and yields are better from these areas. The market especially in B and C category cities and towns is becoming more efficient and is using Technology platforms and is preferring these to the traditional email channels. The end consumer appears to be shifting back from using online travel companies to booking with brick and mortar travel agents for larger value tickets. Online package penetration has peaked for now. What will be the impact of technology on the Indian travel industry going forward?
As margins get squeezed and human resource becomes dearer, travel agents have no option but to work smarter and more efficiently if they are to prosper and grow. Technology will be a corner stone in the new travel landscape. Many travel agents are supplementing their GDS with online systems from GTA, Hotelbeds, Pathfinders, DOTW and are shopping around for the cheapest hotel rates. Travel agents are here to stay and this is becoming more clear as consumers have tasted the online experience and realise that while it is all right to buy just vanilla hotels or air tickets, for bigger ticket items and larger value packages, it is more trustworthy to go to your travel agent. So it is the travel agent who has to use B2B online channels to give his customer an efficient and appropriate response.
We have invested heavily in technology and our Dynamic Packaging System ( DPS) is an online answer to packages. The Pathfinders DPS is a new revolutionary technology that is going to change the lives of travel agents forever. DMCs the world over will have to jump onto the technology bandwagon or disappear into oblivion as suppliers and end consumer cut the links in the supply chain. What will be the top 5 travel trends in India in 2014? Indian travel agents will use their smart phones ( as prices fall) to book travel. This means that developing an app if you do not have one should be given top priority. Social media will acquire more importance in the B2B scheme of things as your customers tweet from their seats and hotel beds. As the Indian economy stumbles and bumbles on without direction for the first half of the year, business will be hard to come by. Whatever comes will be price sensitive. The rich will therefore take plenty of expensive holidays so luxury travel will flourish in the first half of the year. The second half of the year will be a better one for the middle class and package tour market after the national elections. Relaxed visa programmes by several Governments will open up more destinations to Indians. Budget airlines in India will see a surge of domestic travel. This will result in hotel prices going up in popular cities and resorts. This will fuel a surge in travel to Thailand. I see travel agents pan India doing more business at better margins and more professionalism all around.