After merchandise retail, it?s the India?s booming travel industry?both domestic and international?that has caught the fancy of Reliance Retail. Newly formed subsidiary Reliance Retail Travel & Forex Services Ltd, in line with the company?s strategy to internalise operations to cut costs, will cater to all the travel service requirements of its own and parent Reliance Industries Ltd employees, as well as that of Reliance Retail shoppers who win travel prizes on store purchases.
Sources said that after gauging the success of meeting internal needs, the group could then venture into the travel service business in a major way, synergising it with the retail business. In that event, Reliance would compete with existing players like Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings, Stic Travels and Sita Travels.
Up until now, the travel service arrangements of RIL had been outsourced to Thomas Cook, which is believed to be handling business worth Rs 100 crore from the group. The new travel company has also tied up with Indian Airlines, which will be discounting fares by up to 30% for the group?s employees. Initially, the new company will focus on travel between metros and then draw up plans for Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
According to the ministry of tourism, foreign tourist arrivals in the country is growing at a rate of 11-15% annually, though analysts say it is even lower than a country as small as Indonesia. However, with increased government spending and booming business activity, the sector is expected to grow by leaps and bounds.
On domestic tourist flows, according to a Knight Frank study, over 300 million domestic travellers traverse the country each year and this figure is set to witness a growth of about 10-15% pa.