Tourism in India

According to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, India ranks 65th

Travel & Tourism Industry in India is expected to grow and generate US $ 128 billion by 2016

In the year 2006, India represented 0.52 % of the world market share in International Tourist arrivals

History

Richard Cox served as a

regimental agent to the Majesty’s Armed Forces

Company established by Richard Cox

provided services to majority of the British regiments

Cox & Kings is a global tour and travel company.

The Company is a ‘one stop shop’ for

travel solutions

Merged with Henry King & Co, to form

Cox’s & King’s; Henry S. King & Co

had strong links with India

Cox & Kings agency was bought by

Grindlays Bank in a deal with

the Indian Govt.

Largely operated as a ticketing agent;

non leisure business accounted for over 50% of the revenues in 1999

Expanded product portfolio to become a full service Indian

tour operator

Acquired and consolidated

businesses with focus on leisure travel; listed

on the Indian stock exchange

1758

18th

19th

1970

1970-1999

2002-06

2008-10

2011-13

About Cox & Kings

Established in India in 1978 Biggest asset: trust and comfort that clients

have in it Won several awards and recognitions: C & k has always come out with innovative

and customised products to suit its customer’s needs, e.g. ‘One Stop Shop’ for varied travel requirements like Visa, Ticketing, Holidays, Insurance and Foreign exchange among others

Brand Vision for Cox & KingsShort Term (in 2 years) Long Term (in 5 years)

Promoting various tourism segments like medical tourism, adventure tourism, ecotourism, etc by designing segment specific packages in addition to country and region specific packages

Full-fledged branding & promotionalInitiatives (Integrated Marketing Communication)

To concentrate on capacity building by improving the quality of services offered, infrastructure, manpower by benchmarking with competitors

To provide an umbrella of services associated with travelling to the customers.

Use of Information Technology (eTourism) tocomplement branding and promotional initiatives

SERVICES OFFERED BY COX & KINGS

Acquisitions

2006-Cox & Kings Destination

Management Services (Formerly known as Clearmine Ltd. – ETN

services Ltd.)

2008-Cox & Kings Japan Ltd.

2009-Quoprro Global Services Pvt Ltd

(visa processing)

2012-East India Travel Company Inc

Up-market outbound tour and travel packages

2011-My Planet Australia, BenTours

International Ltd.

2013-Tempo Holidays PTY,

Australia; Tempo Holidays NZ Ltd.,

New Zealand

Biggest Acquisition Joint venture with IRCTC; successfully launched the train in

March 2010, the Maharajas' Express is the last word in luxury train travel and the ultimate way to see India in style.

The train has a capacity of 86 passengers in 23 coaches

with two bars and two restaurants.

AWARDSYEAR AWARDS

2013 ‘Best Luxury Operator’ at the 2013 Globe Travel Awards.

2012 ‘Best Outbound Tour Operator of the Year’ awarded by TAAI Travel Awards 2012.CNBC Awaaz Travel Award 2012 in the category of India going Global

2011 “The Best Travel Company for Customer Satisfaction” awarded by Today’s Traveller in August 2011.“India's Leading Destination Management Company” awarded by the World Travel Awards 2011.

MANY MORE

STRENGTHS Strong Brand Value International Market Presence Wide Distribution Network Relationship with key suppliers Delivering high quality customer service Trained Professional Staff Strength

Weakness Substantial investment needed to

compete with International firms entering Indian market through tie-ups or buy-out of local firms

Premium products brand image would affect adversely in competition with cheaper operators or charters.

Industry move towards more direct distribution and reduced commissions

Opportunities

Franchisee network to penetrate smaller cities with untapped propensity to travel

Wider reach through net enabled sales Acquisitions within the industry to

provide significant synergies and economies of scale.

Threat

Tourist flow is highly sensitive to adverse political, natural, economic events.

Increase in tax incidence on industry Existing Regulatory framework and

changes regarding registrations, disclosures and state funds affect C&K as well their suppliers including CRS companies.

 

Case studyIntroduction: Established in the 18th century, Cox & Kings is the world’s longest

established travel company organising escorted small-group tours, private tailor-made travel and luxury holidays. Built on high quality

service and attention to detail, independent tour operator.

Objective: To drive awareness of the Cox & Kings brand,increase customer

acquisition and revenue driven from the website.

Abstract: The immediate priority was to improve return on investment from the

existing paid search campaign. When taking over the campaign we found that the number of keywords being targeted was disproportionate to the level of budget. In short, too little budget was being allocated to too many keywords, which was negatively

impacting performance.

By various trending tools, we began by putting in place a month by month tactical plan that took account of seasonality, promotional periods and fluctuations in demand during the course of the year for the many destinations and holiday types offered by Cox & Kings.

This allowed the budget to be attributed to specific destinations at specific times. We also integrated optimisation and attribution technology to help continuously monitor, test and optimise performance. Alongside the paid search campaign, we redesigned the architecture of the Cox & Kings website to account for search behaviour and to enhance the user-experience.

The site was optimised accordingly based on agreed keyword targets. As well as more traditional link building tactics (submissions to relevant directories and tourist boards).

Results: Campaign highlights include a 47% year on year increase in passenger

bookings and 95% increase in revenue driven via the website, mainly via paid search as this was the main focus for the early stages of the strategy.

However, we have also delivered a 133% increase in top 10 natural rankings on Google, which has resulted in a 29% increase in non-brand traffic from search results.

This includes highly competitive search terms, such as tailor-made holidays. This search term alone has driven a 557% increase in targeted traffic year-on-year and a 111% increase in sales directly attributable to this search.

(This case study is prepared by“The Leapfrogg team” under the supervision of Philip Hamilton-Grierson, Marketing Director, Cox & Kings).

Current News

Indian government promote tourism industry by reducing tax on visa and other tourism activies.

Analyst ,Sharekhan has recommend ‘buy’ rating on Cox and Kings with price target of Rs 395.

Employment Opportunities

C&K operates in 19 countries through its Subsidiaries, Branch offices and Representative offices.

In India, it has 255 points of presence covering 164 locations through a mix of 14 branch sales offices, 56 franchised sales shops and a mix of 185 General Sales Agents (GSAs)and Preferred Sales Agents (PSAs).

Online Presence