India’s largest travel company, Thomas Cook India, put on a first-of-its-kind promotion on March 25-26 by staging “Weekend Mega Holiday Sale” across five locations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai that offered steep discounts and a “children travel free” incentive.
Held on March 25-26, 2017, came after the tour operator saw high customer demand for its recent “Grand Indian Holiday Sale.” Over the last weekend, Thomas Cook India offered a range of attractive deals and the advantage of spot discounts up to 40,000 rupees ($612) per person on Thomas Cook India’s holiday packages over the weekend. The company said it scheduled the weekend sale, timed to coincide with the critical booking window for summer vacations, which is India’s largest holiday season.
As part of the sale Thomas Cook said it would be keep a child’s travel free and extend its “Holiday Pe Holiday Free” offer on select international tours. (“Holiday pe Holiday Free” is a program launched four years ago that offers customers a free International holiday including airfare, accommodation, sightseeing, meals, visas, insurance and service of a tour manager on the purchase of another holiday. For example, if a customer were to buy a Europe package, he or she would get a 3-country cruise or a holiday to Spain & Portugal absolutely free; on a USA holiday, a Canada trip is offered free.) For customers who paid the entire amount upfront, the company said it would offer a further discount of up to 9 per cent on select international holiday packages.
The weekend sale bonanza is an attempt by Thomas Cook India to make further inroads into smaller, lucrative markets in India. Said Rajeev Kale, Thomas Cook India’s president & country head-leisure travel, MICE said, “Our customers are increasingly emerging from small local pockets within larger cities, and our intent was to reach out to our customers by going local- right to their very doorstep. Mumbai currently contributes more than 15% to our holiday business and given the high growth potential, we intend to leverage this market to the maximum.”
