India a big priority for us in global expansion plans: Booking.com country manager

New Delhi: Online reservation platform Booking.com sees India as a "big priority" in terms of its global expansion plans and a long-term strategic player in the travel and tourism space, Santosh Kumar, the firm's Country Manager for India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, said.

In an interview with PTI, Kumar said the company is betting big on India and it continues to invest "very heavily" in the country's market.

Brazil and Japan, too, are priority markets for Booking.com as it looks at further expansion in markets apart from the US, he said.

"When you look at Booking.com and also Booking Holdings, the parent company... post-pandemic, our domestic business has also grown very significantly... It (India) is a very big priority. We continue to invest very heavily in this market and we are really looking at India as a long-term strategic player," Kumar told PTI.

Booking.com traditionally was started in Europe, and that's where it has grown very significantly over the years, he said.

"US is a very big priority... after that, we have markets like India, Brazil, Japan, etc, which are very big priorities for us," he said.

Talking about India's economy's bright prospects, Kumar said, "Our GDP continues to grow. We are continuing to get foreign direct investment into the country. Our infrastructure is continuously improving with all the policies and investments that the current government has been making. So all of those indicators are very positive." He asserted that the contribution of the tourism industry to India's GDP is set to double in the next few years, creating millions of job opportunities.

According to estimates, tourism in India contributes 6.5 per cent to the country's GDP and supports 4.3 crore jobs.

"Travel and tourism as a contributor to GDP is expected to double in the next few years. It is already a very significant part of our GDP. It will double in the years to come and will create multiple new jobs. It will create 58 million jobs in the next nine years or so," the Booking.com country manager said.

According to Kumar, increasing connectivity, easing visa processes and promoting India more in overseas markets as a tourism destination are the top-three focus areas to realise the country's full potential in the sector, going forward.