India A Booming Market, Could Be Among Top 3 Markets For 'Outbound Travel' In Coming Years: Agoda CEO

Tourism in India is "out booming" and the country will be among the top three globally in terms of outbound travel in the coming years, said digital travel platform Agoda CEO Omri Morgenshtern. In India, online travel booking is growing at a faster pace after Covid pandemic in comparison to other global markets, outpacing the APAC (Asia-Pacific) market, he said. India is growing in double digits on many fronts and the TTV (total transaction value) in travel almost hit pre-Covid levels in 2022. "It will go beyond in 2023. And what is more interesting is that we see a step change in online travel.

The TTV of online travel in India was already bigger in 2022 than in 2019. The growth of online travel TTV in India is outpacing APAC," Morgenshtern told PTI. Now Indian travellers are becoming more and more important to many countries. In longer terms, Indian travellers will become second to china in terms of spending in Asia, he added. "Since 2019, the rank of importance of Indian tourists for Thailand for example has risen from 10th to 6th. I expect it to become more important in the coming years, not only to Thailand but to many countries in APAC," he said.

When asked about India's global ranking as a market for Agoda, Morgenshtern said India is a "top bunch", where online searches are growing. "It is one of the super booming markets for us," he said. "I definitely expect India to grow but other markets, APAC in general, is growing very fast. Most markets in South East Asia are growing very fast and its a healthy competition for us. I do expect India outbound to take top position. I do not know whether it will 3 or 5 or even more years, India outbound will come in top three," Morgenshtern added. As the economy is growing, people would gradually have money to travel internationally, he said.

According to Morgenshtern, outbound travel to East (South East Asian countries) and West (Europe & US) both will grow. However, he also added East side will have faster growth in the near future. "I think you will get a booming disproportional amount of people in the category, which are looking for an experience which is little bit cheaper. They will find east interesting for them," he said. Besides, Morgenshtern also sees a lot of potential for inbound tourism in India, which has many attractive places to be explored.

There are places which could be promoted more in India. "My prediction is that India is going to out-boom the rest of the world and could be among the top three countries of the world in terms of the growth of the travel economy," he added India's inbound is growing slower than outbound travel but it is going to have fast growth in the coming years.

"Inbound is growing, but still lagging a bit behind the growth numbers of domestic and outbound. There are opportunities there in terms of marketing to make more travellers aware of the hidden gem that is India," he added. Founded in 2005, the Singaporean online travel agency is now considered one of Asia's leading travel-tech companies with millions of registered customers. In the last two years, Agoda, through its business and marketing strategies, has targeted Indian travellers with an integrated outreach via multiple stories based on their search data and booking data, and conducted extensive surveys.

(PTI)