All eyes on business recovery

COVID-19 was period of learning for STIC Travel Group, and it was time to ensure that partners, both principal suppliers as well as customers, benefited when business pours in. As international scheduled flights resume, they expect business to bounce back keeping in view huge pent-up demand in market that needs to be met.

Nisha Verma

For Isha Goyal, CEO and Executive Director, STIC Travel Group, the journey in the travel industry started young.

“I had the privilege of being in a family business and hence had a fly-on-the-wall perspective for most of the early years of my life. My first internship was as early as I was 10 or 11 when I was allowed to write paper tickets under the supervision of an adult and from there just over the years coming in the office whenever I was on vacation. I got the privilege of observing and learning on the job many small things that made our business tick. However, I officially joined the business in early 2004, after I finished my business degree, and since then in the last 18 years, I have dabbled in almost everything, including sales, operations, corporate finance, IT, admin, compliance across the board and business development, along with lots of team interactions and partner business development,” she shared.

Women in travel

She said that tourism is as much as a male dominated industry as any other industry. “I think women are as much at an advantage or as much of a disadvantage as men. I think it boils down to the individual. If you have the gumption to go for something and if you’re the right fit for the role, the job, the organisation or the business that you’re trying to lead, I think you’ll be fantastic at it,” she added.

Sustaining the pandemic

Saying that they have been in the same storm in the last two years as everyone in the travel industry, Goyal said, “Fortunately, a lot of our partners, not just survived, but thrived in the last few quarters and so did we. I think it’s been a tremendous learning experience for our team. We have been lucky that we could work with our partners to keep things going and it has been fantastic. We are expecting recovery to start in terms of demand to pre-COVID levels as international air bubbles get lifted, flight frequencies increase and capacity increases. Everyone knows that there’s tremendous pent-up demand, which we are hoping to cash on.”

Airlines business

She believes that it was important to focus on sustainability in 2021, especially post Delta variant. “However, now we’re past that phase and everyone is looking forward to see how we get back to the same pace that we had pre-pandemic. We are focusing on a few things things. Firstly, there is a need to keep an open mind because we don’t know what the new normal is. Secondly, make sure you are agile and adaptable, because we don’t know where our business will come from,” she claimed.

Cruise revival

Cruise business has taken a hit globally. However, Goyal feels that in India this industry hadn’t actually hit its true glory. “Thus, I feel that the industry will recover and get way past its previous levels eventually, but we expect that to be a slower paced recovery. We are already making bookings across all four brands, and passengers are coming back. There is so much pent-up demand that it will trickle into all segments.

Nurturing B2B

Goyal said that there are two approaches when it comes to dealing with B2B partners. “The first, and with which we lead, is value-based and includes gratitude and empathy. Our business, even pre-pandemic and during the pandemic, has come to us from different channels. At STIC, we are entirely a B2B business. Hence, our customers are everything,” she added.

Expansion plans

Goyal shared that they are expecting to expand both the representations and the size of the current operations.

“We were fortunately or unfortunately on a fantastic pace in the beginning of 2020, which slowed down a bit, but we are getting back on that bandwagon. Hopefully, we should pick up some speed pretty soon. We are hiring again quite aggressively. The airlines in the portfolio are geared up and looking forward to restarting,” she added.