Need better infra to attract more international tourists to India: Ixigo group CEO

India needs to have better infrastructure and more high-quality hotels to attract a higher number of international tourists, Ixigo Group CEO Aloke Bajpai said on Thursday. In an interview to PTI, the travel booking platform's chief shared that the recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam cast a "significant blow" to the state's tourism momentum, at a time when it was witnessing a major growth in bookings by customers.

The ixigo Group CEO expressed confidence that it aims to surpass the travel industry's growth projections this year.

"Industry projections suggest the overall travel market will grow by 8-9 per cent this year, with online travel expected to grow at over 18 per cent. We're aiming to grow significantly faster than the market and are aspiring to maintain GTV (gross transaction value) growth in the 40 per cent range, in line with our momentum from last year," Bajpai said.


On Wednesday, ixigo reported a profit after tax of Rs 16.8 crore in the fourth quarter ended March (Q4 FY25), compared to Rs 7.3 crore in Q4 FY24, an increase of 128 per cent on a YoY basis.

"This has been our strongest quarter yet, driven by consistent quarter-on-quarter acceleration across all lines of business. ...We're also seeing operating leverage kick in as demonstrated in our robust cash flow from operations amounting to Rs 122 crore in FY25," Bajpai said.

Responding to a question on why inbound tourism has yet to return to pre-COVID levels, he said this is part of a larger global trend, with many governments actively promoting domestic tourism.

"At the same time, there's a clear need for better infrastructure and more high-quality hotels if we want to attract more international tourists," he said.

Sharing his insights on the impact on business due to the Pahalgam terror attacks and the subsequent Operation Sindoor, Bajpai said the "Pahalgam terror attacks happened at a time when Jammu and Kashmir was seeing a 70 per cent YoY growth in bookings for us in the month of April. The attack marked a significant blow to the state's tourism momentum and the region's security environment".