MakeMyTrip’s saw its gross bookings (air, hotel and bus) increase by 181.5% QoQ in the quarter ending December 31, 2020, accounting for a revenue of $598.8 million. However, this is still only a fraction of the $1.7 billion bookings revenue it had recorded in same quarter last financial year.
The ticketing website is still grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing travel restrictions, but its metrics have improved in most respects compared to the previous quarter (Q2 Fy21). Overall revenue from bookings was $56.8 million, an increase of 169% compared to $21.1 million in the previous quarter. Air ticketing revenue improved to $18.2 million this quarter, from $10.9 million previous quarter; Hotels and Packages revenue improved to $24.4 million from $4.4 million; Bus Ticketing revenue improved to $10.1 million from $2.7 million.
Key highlights
- Hopeful with vaccinations around the corner: The company is optimistic of travel picking up pace due to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive. “While the distribution is still in its early stages, we are optimistic that it will gather pace given India’s strong mass vaccination history,” said Deep Kalra, founder and group executive chairman of MakeMyTrip.
- Domestic travel remains priority over international: The domestic air travel market has recovered 65% of its capacity in December, per last year’s figures. Hotel and accommodations have recovered 59%, with 70% of MakeMyTrip’s domestic network open for bookings now. Similarly, interstate bus market is at 75% pre-pandemic levels.
“We believe international outbound travel recovery will eventually gain momentum, but only once herd immunity takes hold across destination countries and the ease of cross border travel presumes. In the meantime, we will keep focusing our efforts on driving full recovery of our domestic business and maintaining strict cost discipline.” — Deep Kalra, founder and group executive chairman
- Nudging customers to travel nearby: The company used social media to assure customers of safety and hygiene protocols, and ran marketing campaigns with food and travel influencers, said Kalra. One of its hashtag campaigns nudged travel to nearby drivable getaways at premium properties.
- Targeting users who only used trains in the past: Though the private bus operator market has reached 75% of pre-COVID levels, MakeMyTrip’s redBus business sold only 50% of tickets in Q3 FY21 versus to Q3 Fy20. There was a positive impact on demand for bus services due to continued rail disruptions. The company used a “highly targeted marketing campaign” in select places to help drive downloads of the app by users who had previously only booked train travel.
- Launched search function in Arabic: The company’s presence in the Middle East is “ramping up gradually”, said Rajesh Magow, group CEO. The group launched the Arabic language for light searches for the Saudi market. It also plans to launch the language for its hotel products in the coming quarter. “As the region continue[s] to open its borders to our citizens for travel, we believe we are well placed to capture this increased travel demand going forward,” he said.
Financial snapshot
- Revenue: $56.8 million, up 169.2 % QoQ, down 61.3% YoY
- Air-ticketing revenue: $18.2 million, up 66% QoQ, down 62.1% YoY
- Bus-ticking revenue: $10.1 million, up 274% QoQ, down 43.1% YoY
- Hotels and Packages revenue: $24.4 million, up 454% QoQ, down 66.5% YoY
- Net loss: $3.5 million (improvement of $17.7 million QoQ, improvement of 26 million YoY)
Earnings | Investors call transcript
