The Board of Thomas Cook India has approved the acquisition of a 24% strategic stake in TravelJunkie Solutions Private Limited, a Mumbai based travel tech start-up via its wholly owned subsidiary TC Tours Ltd.
TravelJunkie Solutions Private Limited developed Ithaka – a chat-based mobile application serving FIT (Free Individual Travellers) customers by recommending authentic local experiences for different destinations and helping plan their trip and book activities, hotels and flights.
Ithaka’s unique app based service offers users a potent combination of cutting edge automation via AI/ML based technology and the farmed collective expertise of a community of well-travelled individuals.
Ithaka currently serves travellers across various international destinations and plans to expand rapidly over the next 18 – 24 months with the support of Thomas Cook India.
Speaking on the occasion, Madhavan Menon, Chairman of the Thomas Cook India Group said “We are very excited with this strategic investment that also marks our first investment in the exciting travel tech space. Ithaka is a perfect marriage of cutting edge technology and human expertise delivered in a user-friendly mobile chat format. For Thomas Cook, the partnership with Ithaka creates a new channel that reaches and serves millennials, while for Ithaka, the partnership delivers an end to end, bookable experience. The business model also resonates perfectly with the hybrid technology + personalisation approach of the Thomas Cook Group in our constant endeavour to innovate and deliver a seamless customer experience to new age travellers”
About Thomas Cook (India) Limited: Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) is the leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa & Passport services and E-Business. The company set up its first office in India in 1881.
The Thomas Cook India Group spanning 24 countries across 4 continents, a team of over 7590 and a combined revenue in excess of Rs. 11,411.6 Cr. (over $ 1.75 Bn), operates leading B2C and B2B brands including, Thomas Cook, SOTC, TCI, SITA, Asian Trails, Allied T Pro, Australian Tours Management, Desert Adventures, Travel Circle International Limited, Private Safaris East & South Africa. The Group is today one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region.
ICRA has placed the long-term rating of ‘ICRA AA’ assigned to the non-convertible debenture programme of TCIL on ‘rating watch with developing implications’. CRISIL has placed its rating of ‘CRISIL AA–’ on the long-term bank facilities of TCIL on ‘rating watch with developing implications’, while reaffirming its ‘CRISIL A1+’ rating on the short-term bank facilities and short-term debt of the Company.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has been felicitated with The Best Outbound Tour Operator and Leading Company with Cutting Edge Travel Innovation at the Times Travel Awards 2018, Excellence in Domestic Tour Operations at the SATTE Awards 2018, Best Travel Entrepreneur of The Year at TTG Travel Awards 2017, The French Ambassador’s Diamond Award for Exemplary Achievements in Visa Insurance– 2015, 2016 & 2017 and the Condé Nast Traveller – Readers’ Travel Awards from 2011 to 2016.
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