Thomas Cook India set to register 70 per cent recovery of pre-Covid levels by end of FY23. Forex and corporate travel act as boosters for the company, said Mahesh Iyer, CEO & Executive Director, Thomas Cook India.
Speaking to Businessline, Iyer said that the recovery post Covid has been quite exceptional, and it continues to see an upward trend over the first half of FY23. The company’s consolidated net loss narrowed to ₹5.87 crore in Q1 ended June 2022 against net loss of ₹83.43 crore in Q1 June 2021. Iyer said that the second quarter too has done fairly well, and are at par with the company’s expectations. Keeping that in mind, he expects the company’s revenues to be at “65-75 per cent by the end of FY23.”
Back to being profitable
He explained that during Covid, the volumes had gone down, and the input costs were higher. However, “Volumes have come back, we will continue to remain profitable over the next two quarters as well. The sections that make us confident are corporate travel and forex. However, international travel continues to be a pain point.”
According to Iyer, corporate travel segment is already at pre-pandemic levels, whereas forex is at 80 per cent of the pre pandemic levels and MICE is at 65-75 per cent. Forex contributes close to 60 per cent of the company’s revenues, holiday segment contributes 22 per cent, corporate travel at 15 per cent followed by MICE and others.
“Over the past few months, physical meetings and MICE have started, which has boosted corporate travel and forex. As far as forex is concerned, despite volatility, there has been a higher revenue trend because of student travel,” he said.
Cruise segment
In order to boost its corporate travel and MICE segment, Thomas Cook India is elevating its cruises product. While the cruise industry is fairly at a nascent stage in India, companies like Cordelia seem to be doing very well and expanding its footprint. Thomas Cook is utilizing this opportunity too. Today, it contributes close to 5 per cent of the company’s revenues, but Iyer sees a potential in expanding this segment further.
However, as far as international holidays are concerned, they still seem to be under pressure due to delayed timelines on visas as well as elevated airfares. “However, we see a recovery in this segment in the next two quarters.”