We will continue to grow faster than the competition: ixigo's Aloke Bajpai

New Indian Express

01-06-2025

The domestic tourism industry has faced significant shifts in recent weeks, particularly after the unfortunate terror attack in Kashmir, which disrupted travel momentum in the region. In an interaction with TNIE's Arshad Khan, Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and Group CEO of ixigo, shares insights on how the incident impacted bookings, evolving traveller preferences and how ixigo's unique growth strategy that allows them to grow faster than peers. Additionally, Bajpai weighs in on rising hotel prices and this season's hottest travel trends. Edited Excerpts:
How has the domestic tourism industry changed in the last one month (since the unfortunate attack in Kashmir)?
The Pahalgam terror attacks happened at a time when Jammu and Kashmir was seeing a 70% YoY growth in bookings for us in the month of April. The attacks marked a significant blow to the state's tourism momentum and the region's security environment. At ixigo, our first priority was to ensure the safety and well-being of our travellers. The temporary shutdown of 32 airports resulted in a marginal disruption to flight services, with cancellations affecting 5-8% of the total scheduled flights between May 7 and May 12. While there wasn't much impact on the trains business, our bus business actually saw some increase in demand during this time and hence we did not see much impact at an overall level.
What has been the impact of Pakistan airspace closure, and a call for boycott against Turkey and Azerbaijan?
Traveller sentiment toward these two countries has clearly shifted, and it's showing up in this summer's booking trends. Internationally, bookings & searches to Japan, Korea, Spain, Paris, Italy, and Singapore are up 20–25% year-on-year, reflecting a growing appetite for global travel. Interestingly, Japan and Korea weren't major blips on the radar last summer, but this year they've emerged as trending hotspots—signaling a clear shift in traveller preferences and a growing appetite for culturally rich, long-haul experiences.
ixigo is everywhere - from trains, flights and busses to hotels. What is driving ixigo's growth and where does future growth opportunity lie?
If you look at our business strategy, we made a conscious decision to focus on what we call the Next Billion Users. In India, trains are by far the most dominant mode of transport. While flights cater to just about 4–4.5% of the population, trains carry around 22 million passengers daily. That's why we didn't follow the typical Western OTA model, which puts flights at the core and builds hotels and other services around them. In India, that model doesn't scale the same way. Instead, we've flipped the template and built around the dominant travel behavior of Indian users—ground transportation first, everything else layered on top.
Thanks to this strategy, we've been consistently growing faster than the market. In Q3 alone, we grew our gross transaction value (GTV) by 48%, clocking over ₹4,000 crores in ticket sales. Flights, in fact, were our fastest-growing vertical, with a 73% GTV growth. In the train travel segment, we're already the largest OTA, holding over 58% market share as of Q3. While our train business continues to grow—27% YoY in Q3 alone—the larger growth opportunity for us now lies in flights, buses, and hotels. Compared to our competitors, our growth velocity is significantly higher—nearly 3x in some cases—allowing us to steadily gain market share in these categories as well.
Why are high-spending tourists increasingly choosing international destinations over domestic ones? Many travelers have raised concerns about steep hotel rates and high airfare prices in India—how do you view this trend?
This trend is primarily visible at the premium end of the market. When we look at five-star properties, there's a clear supply crunch. Some individual cities in Asia—like Bangkok, Shanghai, or Singapore—have more five-star hotel inventory than all of India combined. As a result, occupancy rates remain exceptionally high—often in the high 80s to 90% range—which is quite remarkable.
Giving an example of Goa, travellers who once booked four- or five-star hotels there are now comparing those prices with similar or better experiences in Thailand or Vietnam, where they can access high-quality properties at more reasonable rates—say, ₹10,000 per night instead of ₹20,000. So while the upper segment is seeing some deflection due to higher costs and global competition, the core audience—budget travellers spending between ₹4,000 to ₹8,000 per night—continue to flock to Goa.
Where are Indians travelling this season? What are the airfare trends this year?
We've seen exceptional growth—anywhere between 60% to 180%—in key leisure sectors like Kullu-Manali and Dehradun. Early trends are encouraging—we're hopeful this summer will outperform last year. In 2023, fares jumped sharply—around 15% YoY—because of grounded aircraft and GoAir exiting the market. This year, capacity constraints are easing. IndiGo has brought back many of its grounded planes, and overall availability is improving. If fares remain stable and capacity continues to rise, we should see strong load factors and potentially a very successful summer season.
Among international destinations, we are seeing good traction for destinations like Singapore, Maldives, Vietnam, Bali, and Thailand. Maldives, in fact, is seeing a revival, likely aided by the recent improvement in diplomatic relations. Vietnam has truly taken off. It is clearly resonating with Indian travellers.
It seems India is going big on spiritual tourism, especially during the Maha Kumbh period. What sort of growth have you seen here?
Oh, it's insane. I mean, if I look at Varanasi, Gaya, Shirdi, Haridwar, Puri, Ayodhya, Katra, I can say we are seeing 66% YoY growth on average. If you look at the numbers, Varanasi now receives 4–5 times the footfalls of Goa annually. And what's interesting is that a large portion of this demand is coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns—even from cities as far south as Coimbatore. We're seeing strong interest in what has become a popular spiritual travel circuit that includes Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Prayagraj. The Maha Kumbh has helped reshape this into a broader spiritual triangle that's gaining momentum.