Travel And Traveltech Startups Make a Comeback The pent-up emotions are driving revenge spending and traveling like never before

Travel is back and so are the travel tech startups. What started as revenge travel, has now once again become a lifestyle, with renewed vigor.

"With domestic tourism returning to its Pre-Covid levels, as well as a growing interest in international travel, India is recovering steadily," said Rikant Pittie, co-founder, EaseMyTrip.

Travel picked up as early as May or June last year, albeit with some fears and restrictions. "After a decade of steady growth in passenger traffic, air travel was hit hard by the pandemic. International air travel immediately fell by almost 100 percent, and overall bookings declined by more than 60 percent for 2020, according to Airports Council International. At the time of writing, revenue passenger miles have returned to close to pre-pandemic levels in the United States, but still lag behind in other markets," said a May 2022 McKinsey report.

The pent-up demand drove revenge spending and traveling since then. However, now traveling has become steadier. But, what has changed is that most people do not want to wait for retirement or wait for their children to grow up or save for a long time to travel. They want to travel as soon as they can. Besides this, we are also seeing many new trends that were not seen two years ago.

For instance, traveltech startups have observed that people are making up for the time they lost to the pandemic by taking up longer, more frequent trips. International destinations are becoming more popular by the day, pushed further by travel-themed hit series such as 'Emily in Paris' and 'The White Lotus'.

"Even if a longer travel plan is not possible, most people end up planning a quick getaway to spend a couple of days in a peaceful environment, away from the work-induced stress and the bustle of city life. Those who cannot leave their work behind are taking it along with them on their travels, making 'workation' a sustained trend. An increasing number of people are also planning travel for therapeutic purposes, leading to the rise of a new trend which we call 'wellness travel'," said Pittie.

He also feels that people are becoming more open to the idea of 'immersive travel' through extensive itineraries that include cultural and heritage tours. For the same reason, travel to places of religious interest has also been witnessing a spike. "While religious pilgrimages are conventionally associated with the elderly and families, these days a great number of young travelers are showing great interest in exploring religious sites," he said.

India's post-pandemic projection as a "safe tourist" destination by the authorities is also a big boost. "One of the critical trends here to stay are - hotels taking extra steps to offer contactless services to their guests. We are also currently witnessing an increase in domestic travel. Then we have this rising and popular trend of extended workcations. Both these trends have been helping the hotel industry bounce back since the pandemic ebbed," said Aditya Sanghi, co-founder and CEO, Hotelogix.

Further, tech adoption by hotels has also seen a rise. "An increasing number of hotels are now looking at cloud-based platforms, like Hotel PMS and AI-powered revenue management systems, to sell more rooms at the best rate to make more RevPAR. They are also investing more in rolling out contactless services across various levels of the guest journey," added Sanghi.

The new trends in the travel and tourism sector also focus on creating unique, personalized experiences that cater to individual preferences and needs. "One such trend is the rise of experiential travel, where travelers seek to immerse themselves in the local culture and lifestyle. From culinary tours and adventure activities to wellness retreats and cultural experiences, there is a growing demand for authentic and immersive experiences that go beyond the typical tourist attractions," said Sunil Gupta, MD and CEO, Avis India.

Just like other aspects of travel, business travel has also changed a lot in recent years. Business travelers are now combining their work trips with leisure activities, also known as 'bleisure' travel, say experts watching the space. "With the rise of remote work and virtual events, businesses are now adopting hybrid events that combine both physical and virtual elements. This allows for greater flexibility and wider reach for businesses. Also, there is the growing trend of 'Bleisure travel'. This trend is gaining popularity as it allows employees to extend their trip and explore the destination after their work obligations are fulfilled," added Gupta.

Traveltech startup IntrCity SmartBus has observed the highest travel numbers on the Mumbai-Goa and Bangalore-Goa leisure routes in the recent past. "Leisure travel is anticipated to be a significant trend in 2023 as travelers explore new places and look for novel experiences. Intercity travelers are shown to be more interested in unusual and off-the-beat travel destinations. We also observed a rise in spiritual travel throughout the festivities period, and we anticipate it to continue in 2023," said Manish Rathi, CEO and co-founder, IntrCity SmartBus. In 2022, the first year following COVID, IntrCity SmartBus observed an increase in bookings due to the people's urge to start traveling for functional, leisure or religious reasons. Today, IntrCity takes nearly two lakh reservations monthly.

"Margins have improved due to an overall increase in ticket values (to which commissions for most tour operators are linked) . Further, most OTA's continue to focus on high-margin products such as tour packages where the company has the ability to determine pricing. However, this segment is also marked by higher marketing spends (especially towards discounts) so as to attract customers," said Ankur Bansal, co-founder, BlackSoil.

While the pandemic came as a huge jolt for everyone and every business, it hit the travel sector the worst. However, even after facing the worst experience that any business could witness, both startups and investors in the space believe that the worst is behind them and it is only going to get better by the day and year.