India Daily: EaseMyTrip Opens Retail Store in Patna

India-based online travel platform EaseMyTrip opened its first offline retail store in Patna in the north Indian state of Bihar, it announced through an exchange filing. The move is aligned with the company’s expansion plans and objective of tapping customers who prefer ‘meet and greet’ kind of an experience. The store will offer services like flight and hotel bookings, purchasing bus, train and group fare tickets, and availing holiday, cruise and charter packages, along with the add-on services of visa application and related formalities. In another development, the company has also announced its renewal of a long-term contract with travel technology provider InterGlobe Technology Quotient for seamless access to Travelport+ (1G), a travel commerce platform for booking tickets. EaseMyTrip stands to gain a sum of $12.2 million over a term of agreement which it could further utilize for its inorganic growth and global expansion. 

To incentivize overseas tourists to come to India, the government should simplify visa processes, address safety concerns of tourists coming to India, improve infrastructure, foster partnership with the private sector and leverage technology, a Nangia Andersen report said. Despite the pandemic-induced challenges, India received 6.2 million foreign tourists in 2022, with a growth rate of 307.9 percent as compared to 1.52 million in 2021. The foreign exchange earnings from tourism in the country also increased by 107 percent from $8 billion in 20