How Ixigo Is Winning India’s Travel Game With AI, IPL, and Sharp Brand Focus

India’s online travel industry is witnessing explosive growth, with the market projected to grow from $23.1 billion in 2025 to nearly $34 billion by 2030. In this crowded landscape, Ixigo is using a powerful mix of AI, cricket, and category-led branding to carve out a clear edge across flights, trains, buses, and hotels.

With over 84 million monthly active users and a multi-brand portfolio that includes ConfirmTkt and AbhiBus, Ixigo is no longer just a travel aggregator. It’s become a marketing powerhouse that understands Indian consumer behaviour deeply and builds campaigns that resonate at every tier and platform.

Earlier this year, Ixigo’s 18th anniversary campaign took a bold creative leap. The brand used generative AI tools like Google Veo 3 to reimagine Kabir ke Dohe as travel-inspired films — scripting, visualising, and editing everything through artificial intelligence. This wasn’t just a gimmick. It delivered massive engagement across social media and set the tone for Ixigo’s AI-first storytelling approach.

Ixigo also made waves during IPL 2025 by blending real-time cricket action with instant travel discounts. When a boundary was hit, users had four minutes to grab 40 percent off. When a six was hit, the discount was 60 percent for one minute. This gamified travel discounting during matches, turning cricket viewership into high-intent conversions.

The company’s portfolio is segmented with precision. Ixigo Flights, Ixigo Trains, ConfirmTkt, and AbhiBus each have their own branding, apps, and customer segments. This structure allows each vertical to dominate its niche. Ixigo is now India’s leading OTA in train bookings after IRCTC, second in buses, and third in flights — a strategic result of deep brand-focus rather than wide-spray marketing.

On the media front, Ixigo leans heavily into digital. From YouTube ads during cricket to Hotstar placements and sharp influencer campaigns, the brand stays where its audiences are most engaged. Even celebrity campaigns have a product-first lens. Rohit Sharma featured in a fun “ticketman” avatar to highlight Ixigo Trains, while Soha Ali Khan promoted the brand’s Flight Tracker Pro.

AI now fuels everything from copywriting to ad visuals to full-fledged video production. The team can turn around video creatives in a day, test formats at scale, and optimise messaging at speed. This not only reduces production costs but also keeps Ixigo’s campaigns nimble and hyper-relevant.

Consumer trends have shifted dramatically. Indian travelers are now leaning toward experiences over destinations. Visa-free countries, lower international hotel rates, and a desire to escape premium domestic prices have pushed more travellers abroad. Ixigo’s apps are built to capitalise on this behaviour with flight, hotel, and train integrations built for seamless discovery.

Hotels are the brand’s newest growth vertical, launched less than two years ago. With lakhs of daily users across other transport categories, cross-selling hotels becomes a low-effort, high-impact strategy — especially in tier-one markets where Ixigo wants to grow faster.

Whether it’s cricket-led coupon drops or AI-powered poetry films, Ixigo is not just marketing travel. It’s reshaping how travel brands engage Indian audiences — creatively, contextually, and commercially.

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