OYO records 83% YoY growth in business travel, Delhi is most-booked city

Business travel has made a strong comeback in India after two straight years of subdued sentiments due to the pandemic. Hospitality major OYO has recorded an 83 per cent year-on-year (YoY) uptick in bookings in business cities, between April and November this year.

According to the company’s Business Travel Trends Report 2022, Delhi emerged as the most-booked business city, closely followed by Hyderabad. Other top cities in terms of bookings included Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai.

Hyderabad recorded 100 per cent YoY growth in bookings, compared with Delhi's 50 per cent. Bengaluru reported 128 per cent growth, while Kolkata and Chennai saw a 96 per cent and 103 per cent increase, respectively.

“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 travellers, we have introduced special programmes. Customers with corporate tie-ups can get curated stays options, strong personalised customer support and integration with their accounting system,” said Kavikrut, Chief Growth Officer, OYO.

Cities like Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Panipat Ludhiana, and Dehradun in the North; Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar in the East; Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Coimbatore in the South and Mumbai, Indore, Ahmedabad and Pune in West, emerged as top business cities.

Though business travel started showing signs of recovery this January, it picked up momentum with the new financial year in April. Many businesses decided to return to face-to-face interactions after months of virtual meetings and phone conversations.

Younger business travellers such as college graduates and those who have just joined the workforce, such as traders and small enterprises, played a critical role in the recovery process.

The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) segment also contributed towards the growth as work-related travel became critical for many businesses.

Small and medium enterprises, traditional business houses and conglomerates, start-ups, travel management companies as well as film production houses led the corporate bookings and stays, the company revealed.