How Karan Agarwal Is Steering the New Era of Cox & Kings After Its Strategic Relaunch
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In this exclusive interaction with StartupTalky, marking National Tourism Day, Karan Agarwal, Director of Cox & Kings shares insights into the brand’s strategic revival following its 2024 acquisition by Wilson & Hughes. Rebuilt as a debt-free, technology-first travel company, Cox & Kings is blending its 260-year legacy of curated holidays with modern digital tools and franchise-led expansion. Agarwal discusses the relaunch of flagship offerings like Duniya Dekho escorted group tours and Flexihol customised itineraries, the brand’s growing footprint in Tier-2 cities, and its focus on delivering personalised, consultative travel experiences powered by both AI-driven systems and human expertise. As domestic and international travel demand rises, he outlines how Cox & Kings is positioning itself as a trust-led, experience-first travel house for a new generation of Indian travellers.
StartupTalky: Can you briefly introduce Cox & Kings’ current business model and key service offerings, especially following the 2024 acquisition and relaunch under Wilson & Hughes?
Karan Agarwal: Following its 2024 acquisition by Singapore-based private equity fund Wilson & Hughes India Pvt. Ltd. ,Cox & Kings is undergoing a strategic renaissance. The brand has been rebuilt as a debt-free, technology-first organisation, operating with a clean slate and fully decoupled from all legacy liabilities. The focus today is on creating a future-ready travel ecosystem that strengthens both consumer experiences and the Indian travel trade.
Leisure holidays are the core of Cox & Kings’ current offerings, featuring flagship group departures under Duniya Dekho built on our own contracted tours and Flexihol for customised Independent Traveller itineraries. The business operates through direct consumer engagement, including a franchise model and a network of Preferred Sales Agents (PSAs) extending its reach, supported by technology-enabled planning and service tools that help deliver consistent, personalised, and consultative travel experiences across markets.
Having resumed operations in March 2025, the response from the market has been strong, with over 15 operational franchises already active and growing interest from both consumers and trade partners. The brand is now accelerating expansion through franchises and Preferred Sales Agents (PSAs) who are ready to “walk the talk”, scaling their businesses using Cox & Kings’ tech-enabled platforms while carrying forward the trust and legacy the brand has been known for over generations.
StartupTalky: Cox & Kings is one of the world’s oldest travel brands with operations across multiple continents. What specific performance metrics best reflect your brand’s resurgence and current scale?
Karan Agarwal: Rather than chasing volume-driven metrics, the brand’s resurgence is best reflected in qualitative and structural indicators. These include the successful re-establishment of the Cox & Kings brand across key Indian metros and Tier 2 markets, strong franchise onboarding momentum, and Duniya Dekho escorted group tour series has reinforced the brand’s strength in guided international travel, while offerings such as Flexihol address growing demand for customised, independent itineraries. Early customer response, especially from repeat and legacy travellers, has reinforced the brand’s positioning as a trusted, experience-led travel house rather than a discount-led aggregator.
StartupTalky: Recent expansion initiatives include opening new franchise outlets in Tier 2 markets across India. What market data or customer insights guided your choice of cities like Surat, Nashik, and Rajahmundry?
Karan Agarwal: The expansion into Tier-2 cities such as Surat, Nashik, and Rajahmundry is closely linked to the structural shift in India’s outbound travel landscape. India currently has over 100 million passport holders, yet a significant portion of them have either never travelled internationally or travel infrequently, highlighting the sheer headroom for growth as international travel becomes more accessible and aspirational across non-metro markets.
In the early 2000s, flagship offerings like Duniya Dekho played a critical role in introducing international group travel to first-time Indian travellers who valued structure, reassurance, and brand credibility. Today, that aspiration has translated into action particularly in Tier-2 cities where travel is increasingly viewed as a lifestyle choice rather than a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Gujarat has emerged as one of the strongest outbound travel markets for us, with consistently high international travel demand driven by entrepreneurial communities, SMEs, and family travellers. The growing depth of enquiries across the state led us to open two franchise outlets in Gujarat, one in Surat and other in Ahmedabad, to effectively serve this rising demand. Travellers in these cities continue to place strong value on brand trust, guided expertise, and in-person consultation, particularly for international holidays and escorted group tours
The franchise-led model enables Cox & Kings to rebuild strong local relationships and accessibility in these markets mirroring the confidence and reach the brand enjoyed in its earlier growth phase. The relaunch of Duniya Dekho reinforces this intent: to once again make curated, trusted group travel accessible for a new generation of Indian travellers, while carrying forward the legacy Cox & Kings has long stood for.
StartupTalky: With the relaunch of the “Duniya Dekho” group tour series and other curated offerings, how are you balancing classic travel packages with modern traveller expectations for personalisation and digital convenience?
Karan Agarwal: The relaunch of Duniya Dekho has been approached as a careful evolution rather than a reinvention. The core strengths of escorted group travel well-designed itineraries, experienced and mindful tour managers, and end-to-end logistical comfort remain firmly in place. What has changed is how these journeys are paced and experienced.
Today’s Duniya Dekho tours are designed around smaller, more intimate group sizes, allowing for unrushed travel, greater individual attention, and a more meaningful on-ground experience. This approach also gives travellers the space to engage with destinations at a comfortable pace while
forming genuine connections with like-minded co-travellers, something modern group travellers increasingly value.
On the digital side, the journey has been streamlined from enquiry and itinerary sharing to booking and post-travel support while intentionally preserving human touchpoints where reassurance and guidance matter most.
Overall, the focus is on modernising the delivery of group travel while protecting the trust, comfort, and legacy that have long defined Cox & Kings’ escorted tours.
StartupTalky: Technology is clearly part of your growth strategy. Can you share tangible business outcomes you’ve seen from these tech investments?
Karan Agarwal: Technology will play a central role in Cox & Kings’ renewed strategy, with a clear focus on thoughtfully integrating AI and digital platforms to enhance both customer experience and partner effectiveness. Under the new leadership, the intent is to blend decades of travel expertise with intelligent technology across the journey from discovery and trip planning to booking, servicing, and post-travel engagement.
AI-enabled tools are being developed to support faster responses, more relevant itinerary recommendations, and greater consistency in service delivery, while continuing to retain the reassurance of expert human guidance that defines the brand. The objective is not to build the most complex technology, but to build the right solutions that genuinely simplify decision-making for travellers and improve service confidence.
As the business scales through its franchise and PSA network, Cox & Kings plans to continue deepening its investments in AI-driven and tech-enabled systems to improve operational efficiency, empower partners, and build stronger, long-term customer relationships ensuring the brand remains both future-ready and deeply service-led.
StartupTalky: Cox & Kings has a strong heritage in luxury and bespoke experiences. How do you differentiate these high-end services within a competitive experiential travel landscape?
Karan Agarwal: Cox & Kings differentiates our offerings by addressing a gap the broader travel industry often overlooks: travel is hospitality, not just aggregation. While OTAs and chatbots have optimised discovery and bookings, high-end travel still demands human judgment, reassurance, and accountability especially for complex, multi-country itineraries. We focus on depth of curation, seamless execution, and trust, rather than experience-led novelty alone. In an environment where efficiency without empathy can quickly erode confidence, this balance becomes a key differentiator.
The brand also reflects how travel behaviour is evolving. Destinations like Europe, Japan, Vietnam or Dubai are no longer seen as winter or summer journeys but as all season aspirations. By understanding who is travelling and how expectations are maturing, Cox & Kings is personalising at scale, using technology where it enables convenience, and human expertise where it elevates the experience.
StartupTalky: Looking ahead, what are your top strategic priorities for the next 24 months?
Karan Agarwal: Over the next 24 months, Cox & Kings will focus on measured franchise and PSA expansion in high-potential Tier-2 and emerging markets, while continuing to strengthen its digital and
technology backbone to support scale, consistency, and partner enablement. Technology and increasingly AI-led decision support will play a critical role in improving speed, personalisation, and service reliability across the customer and franchise journey.
A key strategic priority is the continued evolution of the brand’s legacy product portfolio, including the relaunched Duniya Dekho escorted group tour series, ensuring it remains relevant to today’s travellers while retaining the trust and structure that defined its success.
The company will also deepen partnerships with tourism boards, global suppliers, and ecosystem players, alongside building strong training and capability frameworks across its franchise and PSA network. Overall, the focus remains on sustainable, experience-led growth grounded in brand credibility, operational discipline, and long-term customer relationships rather than short-term scale alone.
Ria Sahni
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