Mumbai, October 03, 2016:Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, India’s leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company has revealed interesting trends witnessed in Forex expenditure in the Eastern region of the country this Durga Puja.
Durga Puja is one of the year’s most widely celebrated festivals in India offering a long holiday opportunity, especially in West Bengal. While Kolkata & West Bengal have been earmarked as an important market for Durga Puja holidays accounting for 10% of Thomas Cook India’s overall leisure travel business, a few trends have been witnessed with regards to the Forex consumption among avid Bengali travellers.
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KEY TRENDS:
- Kolkata witnessed a surge of approx. 50% in number of transactions for forex in the Puja month as compared to the previous 2 months
- There has been an Increase of 10% in turn over as compared to September last year
- Average forex spend of a traveller from Kolkata is approx. USD 1600 -1700
- While USD/ EUR / THB are the top three currencies among Kolkata travellers, Hotels, Sightseeing & Food are the top forex spends while travelling on a holiday.
- Kolkata travellers prefer to carry cash followed by aforex card.
- Average load value of the card isapprox. USD 1000
- The east market accounts for 15% of the overall usage across India which has witnessed a surge up to 25% during Durga Puja.
Commenting on the surge in forex spends during Durga Puja Mr. Mahesh Iyer – Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said, “Durga Puja is one of the most significant festival in India and is widely celebrated in the Eastern region of the country, especially West Bengal. Marked by grand celebrations, the 9-day festive extravaganza is one of the biggest holiday seasons in the state. The demand for outbound leisure travel from the Eastern market has witnessed a significant surge recently resulting in a considerable spike in the consumption of forex making it the 3rd largest forex market in leisure travel segment in the country. We expect a steady growth in the segment over the next one year.”
About Thomas Cook (India) Limited:
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd (TCIL) is the leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa & Passport services and E-Business. The company set up its first office in India in 1881.
TCIL’s footprint (exclusive of its subsidiaries) currently extends to over 231 locations (including 20 airport counters) in 92 cities across India, Mauritius & Sri Lanka and is supported by a strong partner network of 111 Gold Circle Partners and 112 Preferred Sales Agents in over 130 cities across India.
ICRA upgraded the long term rating of Thomas Cook (India) Limited’s non-convertible debenture programme to ‘ICRA AA/Stable’. CRISIL has assigned a long term rating of ‘CRISIL AA-/ stable‘ to the non-convertible debenture programme and long term banking facilities, and a short term rating of CRISIL A1+ to TCIL’s banking facilities. Further, ICRA has assigned a rating of ‘ICRA AA-/Stable’ to the company’s preference share programme.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has been voted as Favourite Outbound Tour Operator at the Outlook Traveller Awards 2015, Best Tour Operator – Outbound at the CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2015, 2014 & 2013 and Best Company providing Foreign Exchange at the CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2015 & 2014; felicitated with Diamond Award for Exemplary Achievements in Visa Issuance at the French Ambassador’s Travel Awards Ceremony 2015; Thomas Cook India’s Travel Quest was honoured with a Gold Award at PATA Gold Awards 2015; honored as India’s Leading Tour Operator 2014, World Travel Awards Asia & Australasia 2014, Favourite Tour Operator at the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards 2015 – 2011 ,recognized as a Consumer Superbrand 2013-14 & 2012-2013 and National Tourism Awards 2013-2014. Thomas Cook India’s Centre of Learning has received IATA accreditation as “Top 10 South Asia IATA Authorized Training Centers” 2016, 2015, 2013 & 2012. For more information, please visit www.thomascook.in
Thomas Cook (India) Limited is promoted by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) Limited and its controlled affiliates. Fairbridge is responsible for the execution of acquisition and investment opportunities in the Indian subcontinent on behalf of the Fairfax family of companies.
About Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited:
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and investment management. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada and has a global presence in insurance and reinsurance, including ICICI Lombard (India). The Company, founded in 1985 by the present Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PremWatsa, has, over the past 30 years, demonstrated a strong and consistent financial track record. For the year ended December 31, 2015, Fairfax increased book value per share at a compounded annual growth rate of 20.4% since its inception with a corresponding compounded annual increase in share price of 19.4% and had over US $41 billion of assets.
Fairfax is engaged in long term investments from its own resources, with a focus to delivering long term capital appreciation through a flexible and value oriented approach. Fairfax Financial Holdings through Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. owns 69.55% of the Quess Corp Limited (formerly IKYA Human Capital Solutions Limited), a provider of integrated business services and 100% of Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited (formerly Thomas Cook Insurance Services (India) Limited) engaged in time share and resort business.
About Quess Corp Limited (formerly IKYA Human Capital Solutions Limited)
Quess Corp Limited is one of India’s leading integrated business services providers operating in four broad segments: Global Technology Solutions, People and Services, Integrated Facility Management and Industrial Asset Management. Headquartered in Bengaluru, it has a pan-India presence with 43 offices across 24 cities, as well as operations in North America, the Middle East and South East Asia. As of November 30, 2015, it employed over 118,000 employees.For further details on Quess Corp Ltd. please visit: http://www.quesscorp.com
About Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited:
Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited, a pioneer in vacation ownership and a leading leisure hospitality company in India, was incorporated in 1986 with the vision of delivering great holiday experiences to Indian families. To achieve this vision, the company pioneered Vacation Ownership in India and set about building a network of leisure resorts at some of the best holiday destinations in India. Currently, Sterling Holidays has a total inventory of 1914 rooms spread across a network of 26 resorts in 23 scenic holiday destinations in India.
In pursuance of the Order of Hon’ble High Court, Bombay, dated 2nd July, 2015 sanctioning the Composite Scheme of Arrangement and Amalgamation between Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Limited (SHRIL) and Thomas Cook Insurance Services (India) Limited (TCISIL) and Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) and their respective shareholders and creditors (Scheme), the time share and resort business division and undertaking of SHRIL was Demerged into TCISIL and the residual business of SHRIL was Amalgamated with TCIL.
Post implementation of composite scheme, Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited (formerly Thomas Cook Insurance Services (India) Limited) continued the time share and resort business.
The company also has 16 additional sites where it plans to add new resorts in the coming years. For more information visit:www.sterlingholidays.com
About SOTC Travel Services Pvt Ltd (formerly known asKuoni Travel (India) Pvt. Ltd) & Kuoni Hong Kong
SOTC Travel Services Pvt Ltd (Formerly known as “Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt. Ltd.”) is a step-down subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Group; held through two companies, its Indian listed subsidiary, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) and TCIL’s subsidiary Travel Corporation (India) Ltd.
SOTC is a leading travel and tourism company active across various travel segments including Leisure Travel, Business Travel, Destination Management Services and Distribution Visa Marketing Services.
TCIL through its step down Subsidiary Horizon Travel Holdings (Hong Kong) Private Limited holds 100% stake in Kuoni Travel (China) Limited (Kuoni Hong Kong), which has an attractive business in the travel sector backed by a trusted brand name, and a stable and motivated professional management team. Kuoni Hong Kong is a premium outbound travel operator in Hong Kong.