New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) Travel booking platform Agoda CEO Omri Morgenshtern on Friday said India is a key market for the company and expects its Indian nationality employee base to “grow significantly” from 800 at present.
Indians comprise the second largest employee base in terms of nationality for the Singapore-headquartered company. With 300 employees stationed within India and the remaining 500 stationed globally.
“And I expect it to grow significantly, both on the ground in India and outside,” in an interview to PTI, Omri said.
Talking about Agoda’s expansion plans for India, he shared that India’s growth is hard to ignore and it is one of the biggest opportunities, stressing that India is a super important market for the company.”
Omri termed the London-bound Air India plane crash on Thursday “tragic”, underscoring the importance of ensuring safety for passengers, while expressing confidence that “all companies involved put safety above all”.
Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, operating a flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed soon after the take-off on Thursday afternoon. Out of the 242 people on board the plane, only one person survived.
Meanwhile, Aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet powered by GEnx engines, a day after 241 people onboard died in the plane crash in Ahmedabad.
Responding to a question on the impact of the recent Pahalgam terror attack on India’s hospitality sector, the Agoda CEO said while May saw a dip in booking numbers, the platform witnessed a “tremendous pickup and recovery” in June.
“In May, we’ve seen the numbers go down a little bit, corresponding but actually, I have to say, based on our data, June, we’ve seen a tremendous pickup and recovery. So based on what I’m seeing, I don’t expect a big impact from that event,” Omri said.