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