Luggage industry insulated from slump: Samsonite India head

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Samsonite, the world's biggest luggage maker, said the Indian travel industry has been insulated from the overall slowdown in discretionary spends. This was helped by consumers vacationing quarterly instead of just once or twice a year post the pandemic.

«People have decided that travel is an important part of their lives post Covid. Luggage is not one of the most exciting categories like automobiles or even mobile phones.

But, it's top of the mind and an important category before you travel,» said Jai Krishnan, CEO, India, at Samsonite South Asia. «Since Indians are making quarterly trips now, even shorter ones, there are now more occasions to buy.

Our industry has been insulated despite slowdown all around.» The maker of Tumi and American Tourister said it has seen 38.4% overall sales growth from India during the first half of 2023 despite a strong base and its highest growth ever at 56% in 2022. In 2022, the Indian business outpaced China to become the second largest market globally for Samsonite.

In 2022, Samsonite posted net sales of $218 million in India as against $166.5 million in China. In the past few years, the luggage industry has grown steadily, led by changing lifestyles, growing middle class and availability of low-cost airfares, although growth was completely halted during the first year of the pandemic.