TBM Staff - Mumbai Holiday packages will offer end-to-end travel services
Online travel company MakeMyTrip and IndiGo airlines have launched air charter holiday services to Phuket, Thailand. The aim of both the companies is to make travelling to the holiday island easy since Phuket continues to remain closed for direct flyers from India.
MakeMyTrip said this will be an industry-first and will be available to book starting early December 2021 for selected dates. The company added that the charter holiday packages will offer end-to-end travel services, including airport transfers, Thailand Pass application assistance (a web-based system for travellers to fill in their travel, and health information); early check-in and check-out at premium properties, travel insurance, and return RT-PCR assistance.
Vipul Prakash, Chief Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip, said, “Over the past few quarters our focus has been to build product and services that help make travel during the pandemic easy, safe and convenient. Indian travellers have been waiting to travel to popular south Asian leisure destinations. We want to bring more destinations within reach.” The packages, he said, start at about INR40,000.
Sanjay Kumar, Chief commercial and strategy officer of IndiGo added, “We have witnessed an increased demand for leisure travel and this will offer a unique opportunity for Indian travellers to celebrate the festivities in style.”
Almost two million Indians visited Thailand in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic. They generated about 80 billion baht in tourism-related revenue, according to the Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports data, making Indians the third-largest group to visit Thailand, an economy heavily dependent on tourism. The largest groups of arrivals were from China and Malaysia with about 40 million tourists generating more than $60 billion in revenue, said the authority.
Khun Vachirachai Sirisumpan, director, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said the authority was supporting the initiative and looking forward to welcoming travellers from India again. Visitors to Thailand can find over 15,000 service agents offering 10 types of services such as restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. These players have received a safety certificate from the authorities and follow strict sanitation measures which are a crucial factor in preventing the spread of the pandemic further and can build confidence in customers.” (Source Mint)
