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FCM Forecasts Continued Growth in Travel Budgets and Business Travel

by: Harvey Chipkin

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‘FCM Travel India’s revenue has grown by more than 20% as compared to 2019’

• Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 3:45 PM
• 3 minute read
• ‘FCM Travel India’s revenue has grown by more than 20%…

FCM Travel India is bullish about prospects of business travel from Southeast Asia, Greater China and its youngest source market of Japan. Sunny Sodhi, Managing Director, FCM Travel India spoke to Disha Shah Ghosh about the MICE segments driving growth, and their focus areas.

Q. In terms of global pecking order as well as its position in the APAC region, where does India rank as a source market for business travel?

A. India is the 9th largest market in the world based on business travel spending. It is the 4th largest market in the Asia Pacific region, representing 5.7 per cent of business travel spend in the region.

Q. What has been the growth of the business travel segment in India during 2023, and your forecast for 2024?

A. FCM Travel India has seen an overall business growth of more than 20 per cent in 2023 compared to 2019. FCM India’s Meetings & Events revenue has also doubled. With India’s GDP estimated to grow at 6.8 per cent in 2024, we expect a robust year ahead.

Q. Which vertical of the MICE segment is driving this growth of business travel from India?

A. Meetings in 2023 had an exponential growth of more than 300 per cent. We have also seen a 30 per cent increase in requests for incentive trips which are making a comeback. Also known as employee reward programmes, incentive trips are used to boost employee engagement and productivity.

Q. For FCM Travel, besides India which are the top 5 key priority markets in Asia?

A. Southeast Asia, Greater China and Japan are priority markets for FCM Travel. Asia has continued to outperform with strong performances across Southeast Asia and the re-opening of China. Japan is our youngest market, and it is an exciting and dynamic market for business travel as it is the 4th leading business tourism market based on total travel spending.

Q. What is your strategy to drive the business travel market in India?

A. There are several strategies in place. We have heavily invested in technology and recently announced our corporate AI Centre of Excellence which has seen new features added to our suite of products already available to improve the customer experience and increase our operational productivity.

Aside from technology, we’ve also been working tirelessly towards clear and consistent strategies that have been successfully executed globally, with these strategies initially focusing on ‘Grow to Win’, but now also include productive operations.

We are also investing in FCM Meetings & Events which has just announced the launch of FCM Venue Finder, a platform that revolutionises the booking process for meetings and group hotel accommodations within the MICE industry.

Q. What has been your revenue growth in 2023? A. FCM Travel India’s revenue has grown by more than 20 per cent as compared to 2019.

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David Coffin sings the praises of going unplugged, packing light, and eating raisins

We caught up with the boston harbor cruise guide to talk about all things travel.

If you ask David Coffin, he will tell you that most people don’t understand the full scope of maritime music. “They think it’s just sea shanties, but those are a very specific kind of song … rhythmic songs that [crew members] would sing on ships while they were working,” said the New Haven native. “Sea shanties are an entry point into maritime music, but there are so many others like whaling songs and songs about being at sea.” Coffin, 64, is a well-known area raconteur who performs maritime concerts, leads maritime music programs in schools, and has been the master of ceremonies for ‘Christmas Revels’ — held annually at the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge in celebration of winter solstice — for more than four decades. He has also been guiding tours for Boston Harbor cruises for nearly 25 years and said he is excited about a new harbor cruise he created and narrates for Boston Harbor City Cruises called the Boston Lighthouse and Outer Harbor Cruise, which is offered Thursday-Sunday through May 12. “People are enamored with lighthouses, and on this two-hour cruise, we show them four lighthouses and one surprise lighthouse,” said Coffin, who said there will be a musical component to the cruise. “I really enjoy storytelling — and there is so much history right here in Boston Harbor. To me, every trip is a performance, and even though it’s been almost 25 years [as a tour guide] and has [included] the same information, it never gets old.” Coffin added that he has the “coolest office in town — and it floats. And I’m so successful that I have windows on all four sides of my office.” We caught up with the father of three (one adult daughter and two adult stepchildren), who lives in Gloucester with his wife, Kirsten Wiberg, and their two dogs, two cats, and one bird, to talk about all things travel.

If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? I’d go to Fiji. Why? I think the water speaks for itself.

Do you prefer booking trips through a travel agent or on your own? My wife takes care of it.

Thoughts on an “unplugged” vacation? I’m all for it. Hard to do but very healthy for the brain.

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What has been your worst vacation experience? It was a busman’s holiday — meaning it was a holiday but I was still working — on a Carnival Cruise about 20 years ago. It was like a floating city with thousands of people. Never again.

What is your favorite childhood travel memory? Flying back from Paris, where we were visiting my grandparents when I was 6 or 7, and the plane lost an engine — so we had three instead of four. Everyone lost their appetite, so I had a lot of extra desserts. Remember, I was a child and since we were still flying, everything seemed fine to me.

Do you vacation to relax, to learn, or for the adventure of it all? Strictly to relax. My last vacation was an enforced vacation.

What book do you plan on bringing with you to read on your next vacation? Nothing. Reading takes me away from where I am, and I didn’t travel all that distance to get away from where I went.

If you could travel with one famous person/celebrity, who would it be? My wife.

What is the best gift to give a traveler? An amazing restaurant recommendation and a prepaid bill.

What is your go-to snack for a flight or a road trip? Trail mix — any kind with raisins — and ginger ale.

What is the coolest souvenir you’ve picked up on a vacation? A hole in my foot from stepping on a sea urchin at a beach in Spain. It was low tide and I was way out there on my own. I was a young kid and all I remember is that I couldn’t walk for a couple of days, and I got lots of ice cream.

What is your favorite app/website for travel? None. My wife makes travel arrangements and goes through the airlines directly.

What has travel taught you? Get there early.

What is your best travel tip? Unpack half your suitcase and leave the items you unpacked at home. You don’t need as much as you think you do.

Juliet Pennington can be reached at [email protected] .

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