Online travel business to touch $2bn by ’08
Mumbai, Oct. 19: The online travel business in India is expected to reach a $2 billion turnover by the end of 2008.
Aroonjit Singh Rosha, senior executive, cleartrip.com said, “Currently, the annual turnover of the online travel sector in India is around $ 295 million. It is growing at over 170 per cent per annum and is expected to reach $2 billion by the end of the year 2008.”
“The growth of the online travel sector is mainly fuelled by the penetration of online travel shops across malls and the supermarkets. Such outlets are better equipped to offer superior services than the traditional offline travel shops,” added Mr Rosha.
“The online travel shops not only enable face-to-face interaction with the customers but also transact travel bookings at competitive rates on a real-time basis,” he said.
“Indian corporate executives now-a-days prefer to avail the facilities offered by the cellular companies to book air tickets, cars, hotels and the holiday packages through online travel companies using short messaging services. This concept is expected to gain immense popularity in future among the corporates as well as leisure travellers in India,” added Mr Rosha.
ezeego1.com senior executive Neelu Singh said, “Currently, the business of online travel sector accounts for two per cent of the Indian travel industry turnover. However, the factors like increasing penetration of internet and the credit cards across the country, and the rise in disposable incomes of the middle class population are boosting the growth of online travel segment of the industry. Also, the online travel business from tier-II and tier-III cities is increasing by over 100 per cent per annum,” said Mr Rosha.
“The various types of travel packages offered by the low cost carriers in India have revolutionised the online travel sector in our country,” Mr Rosha added.
Source
- The Asian Age