Rohit Khanna Director, Travelclinic.in

India Outbound

March-April 2014

Focussing on new destinations

Rohit Khanna, Director, Travelclinic.in

An initiative to offer wide gimlet of travel services and customised offerings, Travelclinic.in has been present in the industry since 2005. Covering all the segments – from off-beat destinations to MICE & Events, Travelclinic.in wants to be unique and different in the travel trade. Rohit Khanna, who has experience of more than a decade in the travel industry, understands the customers’ taste very well and thus, he focuses on new destinations, attractions and products to entice the customers with the ‘fresh’ offers.
 
How exactly has travel business been this holiday season for outbound travel? How much does outbound travel form as a part of your total revenue?

Outbound travel is about 60-70 per cent of our business, in terms of our total revenue. If you talk about previous year, it has been very good. It has picked up from a year back in terms of the business. The market has opened up. I hope that the coming times will be really good.

What kind of growth do you anticipate in the travel and hospitality industry? How have been the growth rates so far?

I think that the industry has picked up 30 per cent hike in terms of growth rate. When you ask which kind of growth, the good part about Indian market is that the travel and hospitality industry is growing not only in terms of numbers, but the industry players are trying to explore new destinations. There was a time when India was not open to exclusive and off beat destinations. But now, Indian corporates and FITs (free independent travellers) are quite open to new destinations like Ireland, Scotland, etc; which is a good sign in itself.

How would Travelclinic.in be different from the existing travel-related portals?

See, Travelclinic.in portal is yet to be launched. Let our work speak; what we are doing. I cannot give you an idea about what plans we have to be incorporated in the portal. But yes, we are very much aware that we will get competition with those who have been present in the industry for quite handsome years. And we, being ‘new’ in the industry, have to do something unique and different to catch the eyeballs of the customers.

What is your core business at present?

Our core business at the moment is MICE. This is our main focus area.

What are the innovative measures that one can expect to see in this space in the times to come?

I would strongly say that rather than selling regular destinations, as tour operators and handling the travel industry, we should be very open to introduce new destinations, new market and new products; and make the customer aware what is available fresh in the market. We should raise the awareness of new attractions, new market and new destinations.

For how long has Travelclinic.in been promoting outbound tourism, particularly Europe?

We have been there in the market since 2005 and since then, we have been doing European groups and FITs.

Church of Our Lady before Tyn, Prague

What kind of volumes you do currently?

In the last year, altogether we served 10,000 people for off-beat tours and MICE both. I am talking about financial year. So this is hypothetical figure.

Which were the initial destinations and circuits that you launched? How have these evolved?

I think, initial destination for any tour operator has been South East Asia. And the same goes for us. We started with South East Asia. But we also graduated ourselves to the destinations like the US, Europe, Uzbekistan in Central Asia and we are touching almost every point across the globe.

How proactive is the organisation in promoting novelties in the itineraries?

We are definitely very proactive. We have been trying our abilities to bring in innovative products to the market. As I said, we want to be different and unique to face the competition in the market and we are working on it.

Which destinations/players are most dynamic and proactive and which can pick up?

I think, Central Europe has always been talked about. But the upcoming destinations about which people are talking about include Prague, which I would like to highlight. And Spain has come up like anything. People ask a lot about Spain. Another destination which has come up like anything is Scotland. Then I told you, Central Asia – people have been talking about. These are the destinations in which people are showing their interest and they are picking up for sure.

How do you see the expansion and evolution of Travelclinic.in in the outbound tourism in the next five years?

Every company in the industry has an intention to be number one in the industry and number one in its field. And we are also intended to do so. For the nest years, we will concentrate on the online portal for which we are very serious about. In the coming years, our efforts will be focussed on growing the share of the online business in our overall revenue mix.