Bollywood: The Strongest Currency in Indian Tourism – Skift Travel Podcast

Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit and Head of Research Seth Borko talk travel every week.

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Bollywood — the term used to describe the Hindi film industry — has become a massive force in the global travel industry, helping make destinations featured on the silver screen tourist attractions, a subject we examined recently.

Ahead of next week's Skift India Forum, Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit and Head of Research Seth Borko discussed Bollywood's outsized influence on Indian tourism and other topics related to the sector with MakeMyTrip Chief Marketing and Business Officer Raj Rishi Singh.

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Key Points

The Power of Bollywood in Indian Culture: Movies, along with cricket and food, are deeply embedded in Indian culture. Bollywood stars have become the country's most popular influencers, surpassing even those on social media.

Bollywood’s Influence on Travel: Bollywood has inspired many Indians to travel to locations they've seen on film, and companies like MakeMyTrip have curated travel packages around these popular movie settings.

India’s Booming Travel Market: The Indian travel industry has been growing at 14–15% annually, an increase that has been driven by factors such as the country's emerging middle class and infrastructure improvements.

The Role of Bollywood in Marketing: MakeMyTrip's marketing is intertwined with Bollywood as Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, two of the country's biggest film stars, have been the company's brand ambassadors for seven years. Most of MakeMyTrip's brand messaging is done via these two mega stars in India.

Spiritual Tourism on the Rise: Religious and spiritual tourism has seen a boom in both domestic and international visitors, with improvements in connectivity making it easier for people to visit key pilgrimage sites.

Episode Summary

The enormous popularity of Bollywood has influenced many aspects of Indian culture, including travel decisions. The conversation also touched on the power of Bollywood celebrities as influencers, with MakeMyTrip leveraging stars like Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt as brand ambassadors. Bollywood has also fostered a sense of community, especially among Indian diasporas worldwide.

The Indian travel market has evolved rapidly over the past few years, growing at a steady rate of 14-15% annually. With approximately 40 million households earning over $10,000, more people can now afford discretionary spending on travel. Infrastructure development, including new airports and better highways, has also made travel more accessible within the country. Additionally, social media plays a crucial role, as Indians actively share their travel experiences, creating a culture where travel is a form of social currency.

Correction: This post has been updated to correct the name of one of MakeMyTrip's brand ambassadors. It is Ranveer Singh.