Kahini Chakraborty– Mumbai
Cox & Kings has a strong growth strategy in its two key travel segments- leisure travel and education travel. As the India market is expanding, the company is seeing an increasing demand for community specific holidays. Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Peter Kerkar, director, Cox & Kings said, “The market is going regional. People prefer travelling with like minded people belonging to their own community. Hence we have launched Amhi Travelkar- customised group tours for the Maharashtrian community. And as the market expands, there is demand for community specific holidays.” The company also launched MasterChef holidays in the India market wherein all tours feature local culinary experts and many also include time with popular contestants who have appeared on MasterChef programmes across the world. The on-tour experiences include a combination of a meal along with a cooking demonstration and visits to attractions in regions covering food and wine.
Further, the company is also going to expand its market share in the outbound adventure segment. “The adventurous are constantly looking for newer experiences and tented holidays are now catching on. Hence we are promoting mobile luxury camps, TUTC, ‘The Ultimate Travelling Camp’ which covers a calendar of destinations and festivals.” This nomadic super luxury camp introduces the discerning traveller to different adventures in selected exceptional locations in the mountains, deserts, jungles and unexplored countryside-destinations include Nagaland, Awadh and Thiksey. Recently, the company along with Ezeego1.com formed an alliance with G Adventures, the largest small group adventure travel company in the world that offers socially and environmentally sensitive travel.
As per Kerkar, the outbound travel business is on an upward growth curve and the trend will continue at least for the next 10 years.
In the education travel segment, the company has two market dominating student travel brands, operating in UK, with a steady growth profile. “In keeping with our strategy to take the business into other markets, we recently launched the PGL brand in Australia with our first 350 bed centre. We feel this is a promising market for future growth in the business. Our student and youth hotel brand ‘Meininger’ is a unique proposition, currently operating 7000 beds across 16 hotels in Europe. We have a very exciting expansion strategy in this business, which would unravel over the next 12-18 months,” he informed.
