Overseas Tourism boards, hospitality and travel companies focus on Tier II-III cities

Small-town India is making waves beyond home shores. An increasing number of outbound Indian travellers from tier 2 and 3 markets and other smaller towns are promoting overseas tourism boards, travel and hospitality companies and destination marketing firms to take note.

Bader Ali Habib, regional head of proximity markets at Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, said Dubai is broadening flight connectivity to 23 Indian cities, including Jaipur, Pune, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Kochi and Srat, among many others.

"Tier two and three cities in India have tremendous potential for outbound tourism backed by spending power and an increase in MICE weddings, honeymoons, and sports. The decision to focus on tier two and three cities stems from a notable increase in outbound travel from these regions driven by rising disposable incomes and its burgeoning interest in experiential travel," she said. MICE refers to meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. Markus Tan, regional director for India, Middle East, South Asia and Africa at Singapore Tourism Board, said Singapore received over 6,29,000 Indian visitor arrivals in the first six months of 2024 alone, making India its third largest source market. "The significant flow of tourism traffic is due in part to strong outbound travel demand from growth markets across India, bolstered by highly aspirational consumers eager to explore world-class international destinations like Singapore, making these markets important to our tourism business," he said, adding, that cities such as Jaipur and Coimbatore feeder markets. Liam Findlay, CEO of Miral Destinations, said. At the same time, visitation from India grew 40% from 2023; this growth was bolstered by a double-digit increase in engagement from tier two and tier three markets.

"Recognizing the potential created by higher disposable incomes and a growing interest in travel, Yas Island Abu Dhabi has significantly intensified its focus on tier two and three Indian cities over the past year," he said. "Cities such as Chandigarh and Jaipur are showing increased interest. The West sees resignation demand from Rajkot and Kolhapur, while Coimbatore and Kochi lead the trend in the South," he said.

Rising disposable incomes and accelerated access connectivity, besides the draggable rights of travel, are fuelling demand from India's tier two and tier three markets said Rajeev kale president and country tier two and tier three markets said Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays MICE and Visa at Thomas Cook.

"The top regional markets for us include Mysore, Mangalore and Madurai in the South, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Jaipur in the North, Guwahati, Indore and Bhubaneshwar in East and Central India and Nagpur, Rajkot in the West," he said. To appeal to the regional segments, Thomas Cook curated regional special tours for Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Tamil markets wherein customers from similar backgrounds travel with a regional language-speaking tour manager and regional backgrounds travel with a regional language-speaking tour manager and regional delicacies are offered on tours. Daniel D Souza, president and country head for holidays at SOTC Travel, said the company's strong focus on regional India is seeing significant growth. "To further capitalize on this potential, we have launched many holiday stores and franchises across tier two and three markets, providing easy access to our customers from that region, "he said". SOTC was one of the first to start group tours focused on regional market segments such as Gurjar Vishwadarshan holidays, which offer vegetarian and Gujarati meals across key destinations like Europe, South East Asia, and other destinations. Additionally, the company's for enhancing its regional connect by providing customers with their language of choice as a content interface for its range of products and services," he added. Overall, tier two and smaller tons have seen a year of outbound travel search

growth of 38% on MakeMyTrip, said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO of MakeMyTrip. "If one were to bifurcate further, outbound searches in tier two cities would have grown by 25% while tier three towns would have seen a search growth of 67%, he added.

Chamindra Goonewardene, VP for sales and marketing at Resplendent Ceylon, which operates hotels in Sri Lanka, said the recent trend shows increasing traction from tier two and tier three cities. "Cities like Madurai, Surat. Coimbatore, Jaipur and Chandigarh are key drivers of this demand, and a growing clientele is interested in luxury travel experiences," he added. Online visa application firm Atlys is seeing a surge in applications from Lucknow, Indore, and Coimbatore, according to founder and CEO Mohak Nahta. "Our goal is to increase our market share in tier two and three cities by 40% over the next year. We are rolling out region-specific marketing campaigns and collaborating with local influences," he added.

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