MakeMyTrip urges India and Sri Lanka to unlock next wave of travel growth

• MakeMyTrip Chief Commercial Officer – Holidays and Experiences Jasmeet Singh says India’s outbound travel boom is major opportunity for Sri Lanka
• Notes Sri Lanka ranks as fifth largest search destination but awareness gaps persist
• Says India is projected to generate 50 m outbound travellers by 2030, with 70% choosing short-haul destinations within five hours, placing Sri Lanka in strong competitive position
• Cites Vietnam’s tourism boom with MakeMyTrip as model Sri Lanka could replicate

By Charumini de Silva 

MakeMyTrip Holidays and Experiences Chief Commercial Officer Jasmeet Singh  - Pic by Ruwan Walpola

MakeMyTrip Chief Commercial Officer – Holidays and Experiences Jasmeet Singh last week called for stronger strategic collaboration between Sri Lanka and India’s largest online travel platform to accelerate tourism growth, noting that Sri Lanka has “all the right building blocks” to scale its presence in the world’s fastest-growing outbound travel market.

Speaking at the India–Sri Lanka Tourism Connect forum titled “From the Ganges to the Kelani: A Voyage of Friendship and Discovery”, Singh revealed that Sri Lanka is ranked fifth largest search destination on MakeMyTrip’s two major platforms, indicating strong demand potential. 

However, he cautioned that Sri Lanka’s digital presence remains fragmented.

“If you search on Instagram or TikTok for Sri Lanka, you don’t get enough structured information. The content exists, but it is scattered. Bringing all of it together can significantly shift the needle,” he said.

Singh asserted that awareness and engagement must go hand-in-hand. MakeMyTrip’s data-driven personalisation engine, built over years of analysing user journeys can help identify which travellers should be targeted with Sri Lanka content, when, and on which channel.

“Every two hours, user preferences change on our platform. But if Sri Lanka feeds us the right content, we know exactly whom to show it to and how to convert that into bookings,” he added.

Singh outlined several trends shaping India’s rapidly expanding international travel demand. “By 2030, India is expected to generate 50 million outbound travellers annually, with 70% opting for short-haul destinations within roughly five hours of flying time. This places Sri Lanka in a prime position,” he said.

Equally significant are demographic shifts where 50% of India’s international travellers are Millennials and Gen Z, who increasingly choose destinations based on trending content on Instagram or TikTok rather than traditional brochures. “People are now searching for experiences first, and then choosing the destination,” he noted, citing Japan’s surge in Indian arrivals driven by social-media fascination with cherry blossoms.

Singh also identified four fast-growing consumer cohorts on the platform. Premium travellers, who book rooms averaging above $ 150 per night and now account for 30% of outbound international bookings; pilgrimage and spiritual travellers, a segment powering 60% of domestic travel in India and expanding rapidly internationally; experience-seekers, whose decisions are driven by trending activities rather than geography and last-minute travellers, with 50% of domestic room nights booked within three days and 33% of air tickets booked within a week.

“All these cohorts are growing and Sri Lanka fits every single one of them,” he said, noting that the island’s ability to offer beaches, mountains, cloud forests and ancient heritage sites within a few hours’ drive makes it ‘uniquely appealing’ to diverse Indian travel personas.

Against this backdrop Singh proposed deeper collaboration on destination awareness through joint marketing campaigns, high-quality, consolidated digital content, personalised targeting using MakeMyTrip’s data engine, creating season-proof demand, as MakeMyTrip data now shows “no true off-season” for short-haul travel and product innovation and potential charter connectivity where viable

“There is so much Sri Lanka and MakeMyTrip can do together. The demand is there. The cohorts match. The signals are strong. With the right partnerships and focused execution, Sri Lanka’s numbers can grow exponentially,” he stressed.

He highlighted MakeMyTrip’s 25-year evolution from a travel-booking company into India’s first full-fledged travel-tech super app, serving consumers, enterprises, travel agents and affiliate partners through an integrated digital ecosystem.

He noted that MakeMyTrip now works with 50,000 companies for corporate travel, 35,000 travel agents under its MyPartner platform, and major affiliates under its B2B2C vertical. The platform has handled 850 million lifetime transactions, is on track to surpass $ 1 billion in gross bookings this year, and maintains a 33% share of India’s domestic air travel market, meaning “three out of every ten flyers in India book through MakeMyTrip.”

To illustrate how strategic alignment can rapidly drive growth, Singh referenced Vietnam’s transformation in the Indian market.

He cited Phu Quoc, a small island with no direct flights from India, which saw a surge in Indian visitors after Vietnam offered visa-on-arrival and MakeMyTrip launched charter services, halving travel costs for customers. Similar partnerships with tourism authorities, airlines and hotels have helped Vietnam become one of India’s fastest-growing destinations in just two years.

“The takeaway is simple, Sri Lanka has all the building blocks. But the blocks must be aligned and then scaled,” Singh emphasised.