Thomas Cook (India) has reported a robust growth of 25 per cent Year-on-Year, from its foreign exchange student business. Given the strong growth potential of the segment, Thomas Cook India has announced the second edition of its Study Buddy programme – a focussed initiative to catalyse demand and expand its student market-share pan India. The introduction of the Study Buddy programme has been strategically timed to target the critical booking window for student travel.
India is today the second largest source of international students. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), overseas travel spends by Indians rose more than 60% Y-O-Y in May (just before the international academic season), thus highlighting a marked increase in overseas education travel & education spends. Thomas Cook India’s internal data further validates this strong growth potential with an uptake in queries from student travellers of over 25-30% YoY. To leverage and drive the student opportunity, the Company has launched the second edition of its Study Buddy programme, with a host of special student offers. The Study Buddy programme is available across Thomas Cook India’s omni-channel network, including its portal Thomascook.in, its Forex app, its contact centres and over 150+ foreign exchange outlets pan India, and extends over a 3-month period, ending September 30, 2019.
Deepesh Varma, Senior Vice President, Sales & Relationship Management – Foreign Exchange, Thomas Cook India said, “Students travelling overseas for education represents a key demographic, and a strong growth driver for our foreign exchange student business. The Thomas Cook India’s Study Buddy programme hence serves as a valuable offering, designed specifically to handle the entire life cycle of students looking to study abroad and encompasses a range of products and services from university application fees, tuition fees, living expenses, air tickets, insurance, forex cards, and more, with the added benefit of a range of attractive offers.”
He further added, “Thomas Cook India has been providing university fee remittance services for over 50 years now. Students can avail fee remittances services across any of our 150+ foreign exchange outlets pan India.”
