December 2022, New Delhi. Business travel has made a strong comeback in India after two consecutive years of subdued sentiments due to the pandemic. OYO Business Travel Trends Report 2022 reveals that bookings in business cities have recorded an impressive 83% YoY growth between the period April to November this year as compared to the same period last year.
The report captures booking trends in top business cities that include Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Panipat Ludhiana, and Dehradun in the North; Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bhubaneshwar in East; Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Coimbatore in South and Mumbai, Indore, Ahmedabad and Pune in West.
Delhi has emerged as the most booked business city closely followed by Hyderabad. The other top cities in terms of bookings are Bangalore, Kolkata, and Chennai. Hyderabad has recorded 100% YoY growth in booking while Delhi has recorded 50% growth. Bangalore reported 128%, growth and for Kolkata and Chennai, it has been 96% and 103% respectively.
Though business travel started showing signs of recovery In January this year, it picked up momentum with a new financial year in April. Many businesses decided to return to face-to-face interactions after months of virtual meetings and telephonic conversations. Younger business travelers such as college graduates and those who have just joined the workforce or businesses, such as traders and small enterprises, played a critical role in the recovery process.
The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) segment also contributed to the growth as work-related travel became critical for many businesses.
Explaining the growth in business travel, Kavikrut, Chief Growth Officer, OYO said “The swing of the pendulum is now clearly visible in business travel and we are expecting this trend to continue. Demand is picking up across all key business cities which confirms that the recovery is broad-based. In order to ensure a hassle-free stay experience for business travelers, we have introduced special programs. Customers with corporate tie-ups can get curated stays options, strong personalised customer support, and integration with their accounting system”.
Small and medium-scale enterprises, traditional business houses & conglomerates, startups, travel management companies as well as film production houses leading the corporate bookings and stays.
OYO’s recent focus on its mid to premium segment brand categories Townhouse Oak, Townhouse, 5 by OYO and 4 by OYO has also provided companies with quality stay choices.
Customers choose OYO’s platform for many reasons, including unique inventory and availability of storefronts, quality of accommodation, the price of its offerings, ease of use of its app, personalisation, the trust and safety of the OYO platform, and the quality of its customer support through Yo! Chat, end-to-end proprietary customer support platform.
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