Tag Archives: Thomas Cook India

Thomas Cook (India), along with its Group Company SOTC Travel Ltd., jointly launched ‘Assured’ – a comprehensive program to safe travel in the COVID-19 era, and the companies have partnered with Apollo Clinics for the same. Thomas Cook India and SOTC took customer opinion to understand their concerns and priorities when it comes to travel in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant 75% of the respondents of the Thomas Cook India & SOTC Holiday Readiness Survey stated that health & safety was their overriding concern. To build confidence that it is safe to travel again, the companies have worked jointly with partners across the travel eco-system to create the Thomas Cook & SOTC Assured program, that ensures meticulous health and safety protocols – at every stage of the customer journey – from the various contactless booking processes, safe physical outlets & processes at the sales/servicing pre tour stage, as well as the on-tour stage. Madhavan Menon, Chairman and Managing Director, Thomas Cook India said, “Across Thomas Cook India & SOTC, our customers have been clear that health, hygiene and safety is their prime concern when it comes to travel in the COVID-19 era. Hence, our teams have spent a significant time at the drawing board and worked jointly with key travel partners/stakeholders to create this very comprehensive initiative. I am proud today to launch of The Thomas Cook & SOTC Assured Safe Travel Program, in association with Apollo Clinics – the most respected brand in the healthcare sector, to jointly set a benchmark for customer safety in this new normal for travel.”

According to a joint survey report by Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel, consumers have expressed an interest in a personal touch to their travel booking experience, with 58% opting to purchase holidays through retail outlets or home service (38% retail and 20% home visits). This was followed by 40% opting for online channels (website/App) and 12% stating preference for video chat. Over 2500 consumers across India participated in the survey.

Thomas Cook India has opened its new franchise in Delhi’s Kamla Nagar. Inaugurated by Romil Pant, Sr Vice President, and Jatin Sharma, Associate Vice President, Thomas Cook India, the expansion augments Thomas Cook India’s distribution and reach in Delhi-NCR to 17 consumer access centres: six owned branches and 11 Gold Circle Partner (franchise) outlets. The Gold Circle Partner outlet offers consumers end-to-end travel solutions with a bouquet of travel and travel-related financial services, including international and domestic holidays value-added services like travel insurance, visa services, etc. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head, Leisure Travel & MiCE, Thomas Cook India, said, “The North market continues to feature strongly as a prime driver, delivering significant growth of 32 per cent YoY for our leisure travel business. We have selected Delhi-NCR as it has a strategic market basis. The Thomas Cook Gold Circle Partner programme increases the brand’s reach across the country, giving consumers access to the company’s products and services in metros/mini-metros and strongly emerging Tier II and III markets.  

Thomas Cook India has approved the acquisition of a 24 per cent strategic stake in TravelJunkie Solutions, a Mumbai-based travel tech start-up via its wholly owned subsidiary TC Tours. TravelJunkie Solutions developed Ithaka – a chat-based mobile application serving FIT (Free Individual Travellers) customers by recommending authentic local experiences for different destinations and helping them plan their trip and book hotels and flights. Ithaka’s app-based service offers users a combination of cutting-edge automation via AI/ML-based technology and the farmed collective expertise of well-travelled individuals. It currently serves travellers across various international destinations and plans to expand rapidly over the next 18-24 months with the support of Thomas Cook India. Speaking on the occasion, Madhavan Menon, Chairman, Thomas Cook India Group, said, “We are excited with this strategic investment that also marks our first investment in the exciting travel tech space. Ithaka is a perfect marriage of cutting-edge technology and human expertise delivered in a user-friendly mobile chat format. For Thomas Cook, the partnership with Ithaka creates a new channel that reaches and serves millennials, while for Ithaka, the partnership delivers an end-to-end, bookable experience.”

Thomas Cook (India) has opened a new branch at Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad to leverage the growing potential of Telangana. Present at the inauguration were Romil Pant, Senior Vice President- Leisure Travel, and V Pradeep, Associate Vice President, Foreign Exchange, Thomas Cook (India). This expansion extends Thomas Cook India’s presence in Telangana to 10 consumer access centres (4 owned branches and 6 Gold Circle Partner franchise outlets) across Saifabad, Begumpet, Hitech City, Gachibowli, Kukatpally, Banjara Hills, Attapur, Sainikpuri and Malakpet; with five additional outlets in Andhra Pradesh. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa & Passport Services, Thomas Cook (India) said, “At Thomas Cook, Telangana State has been identified as a prime driver and continues to deliver strong growth of 25 per cent YOY for our leisure travel business. Our new branch at Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad (a key residential, commercial and retail centre), gives our consumers convenient access to a wide range of travel and foreign exchange services. Innovative products like our Holidays and Forex apps with doorstep delivery of foreign exchange; equally our cutting edge prepaid cards (Borderless and One Currency) are of great value to Hyderabad’s tech savvy travellers and we are confident of seeing a strong uptake.” Deepesh Varma, Senior Vice President– Sales & Relationship Management, Foreign Exchange, at Thomas Cook India said, “Given the impressive increase of 45% across our key Forex product-segments, we have identified Telangana State as a strategic source market. Telangana is also a significant outward remittances market for us; our Send Money Abroad service seeing increased uptake.”    

Identifying the state of Uttar Pradesh as a significant growth market for its foreign exchange business, Thomas Cook (India) has opened two new counters at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi. The outlets were inaugurated by Anil Kumar Rai, Airport Director in the presence of Shouvik Chatterjee and Amit Gupta, Associate Vice Presidents of Thomas Cook India’s Foreign Exchange business. The two new airport counters extend Thomas Cook India’s Foreign Exchange distribution and reach for Uttar Pradesh to a total of 12 consumer access centres – seven owned branches and five Gold Circle Partner (franchise) outlets. Deepesh Varma, Senior Vice President & Head—Sales & Relationship Management Foreign Exchange, Thomas Cook (India) said, “At Thomas Cook India, we have identified Varanasi as a powerful source market given strong growth continuum of 17 per cent YoY for our Foreign Exchange business. Our two new Foreign Exchange outlets at Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, will offer travellers easy access to Thomas Cook India’s range of Foreign Exchange products and services- right at the airport on arrival or departure.” Industry data highlights that Varanasi Airport has witnessed strong growth in passenger numbers from one million in 2014-2015 to 1.9 million passengers in 2017–2018.

Thomas Cook (India) has partnered with the Government of India for the Khelo India School Games, a part of the Khelo India Programme initiative of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to create a sports ecosystem and revive sports culture at a grassroot level in India. Thomas Cook India was selected as Hospitality Partner for the Khelo India School Games, held from January 31-February 8, 2018 in New Delhi, where India’s Under-17 athletes were invited to participate across 16 disciplines. Thomas Cook India had set up a dedicated team of 160 members during the Khelo India School Games to project drive this strategic initiative. The team has successfully executed the partnership by providing both accommodation and meals for an approximately 5000-strong contingent for a duration of 10 nights. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head- Leisure Travel, MICE, Thomas Cook (India), said, “The Khelo India programme is inspirational in its aim to scout young talent from schools in various disciplines, groom them as future champions and thereby, serve to catalyse the sporting culture of the nation. It is hence, truly an honour for us at Thomas Cook India to have been selected to partner with the Government of India for this unique initiative.”

Thomas Cook India has identified Odisha as a significant growth market for its foreign exchange business. To leverage this opportunity, the company has opened two forex counters at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, Thomas Cook India said in a BSE filing. Mahesh Iyer, CEO, Thomas Cook (India), says, “Bhubaneswar has been identified as a prime growth driver for Thomas Cook India and continues to deliver strong growth of 32 per cent YoY for our foreign exchange business.” The two new airport counters takes the company’s foreign exchange distribution in Odisha to a total of three outlets and further augments its network in east India to a total of 23 consumer access centres. Source: PTI

Thomas Cook (India) has obtained Board approval to divest a 5.42 per cent stake in its subsidiary Quess Corp, to bring its shareholding to 51.56 per cent, thereby proposing to raise funds of over Rs 600 cr. through an Offer for Sale (OFS) process as prescribed by SEBI. This is in keeping with SEBI regulations that require promoters to bring down their stake to 75 per cent and post dilution, the promoter shareholding in Quess Corp (that of Thomas Cook India and Ajit Isaac, CMD & CEO, Quess Corp.) would be 75.38 per cent. Fairfax Financial Holdings, through the Thomas Cook India Group, is committed to maintaining a controlling stake in Quess Corp. Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director, Thomas Cook India Group, said, “At the Thomas Cook India Group we are committed to holding a controlling stake in our subsidiary Quess Corp. Our proposed dilution of a portion of our stake in Quess Corp is hence intended to comply with SEBI regulations. Our aim is to retire our long term debt and improve profitability; simultaneously increase our cash reserves, enabling us to effectively leverage opportune investments as and when they arise.” The initiative is also aimed at retiring Thomas Cook India’s long term debt, thus bringing down the company’s financial costs and improving profitability and liquidity at both a standalone and group level.  

Thomas Cook India has announced that its Board has approved the signing of a definitive agreement with Tata Capital Limited to acquire its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Tata Capital Forex Limited (foreign exchange) and TC Travel and Services Limited (travel services). The network of the two acquired entities includes 24 locations pan India. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals. Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director, Thomas Cook India, said, “Our acquisition of Tata Capital’s Forex and travel companies serves to further strengthen the Thomas Cook India Group’s leadership position in the Travel & Foreign Exchange sector in the country. This also gives us the opportunity to continue to serve the strong corporate portfolio of both Tata Capital Forex Limited and TC Travel Services Limited- large corporate houses including flagship Tata Group companies; as also a set of new retail customers.” He added, “The acquisition creates clear opportunities, including a significant increase in scale and network reach, volume/ buying advantages as well as technology gains, all resulting in stronger customer service and stakeholder value.” Praveen Kadle, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Capital said, “Travel and Forex services are perfectly poised for rapid and high growth. We are confident that Thomas Cook would take this business forward and help it reach its potential.”