Travel News June 2007

Service Providers

Makemytrip.com targets Rs 1,000 cr biz

Amadeus partners with Air India to provide e-ticketing

Planning your holidays on the Net could get simpler

Makemytrip.com targets Rs 1,000 cr biz
Monday, May 28, 2007

Make My Trip.com, an online travel company, said it is likely to break even this fiscal and expects to double its online transactions as well as turnover. Keyur Joshi, co founder and chief operating officer, said the company expects to double its turnover as well as the number of total air tickets and travel transaction this financial year.

The company clocked a turnover of Rs 550 crore in the financial year 2006-07. This fiscal year the company aims to double the turnover to touch Rs 1,000 crore. The total number of online transactions were seven lakh and the company expects to double the number of transactions this year. Presently, the company has a market share of 35-40 per cent in the online travel industry business in India.

Make My Trip.com, believes that the biggest impetus that its business will receive is from hotel and tourism segment. “The next big push will be for us in hotel and tourism segment,” added Joshi. According to the company, online travel booking company has not tapped hotels in domestic tourism.

Presently, the company has generated 80 per cent revenue from air tickets and 20 per cent from hotel and travel segment. The company will soon start marketing its new business model where it will be providing online booking for hotels. On Friday, the company launched its operations in Ahmedabad. Speaking on the occasion, Joshi said, “Presently, around 2 per cent of our online business comes from Gujarat.”

The company believes that Europe and the Far East have emerged as preferred holiday destinations for travellers from Gujarat. It also aims to increase its 2 per cent online business share from Gujarat to 10 per cent in the next two years. The company has five branches all over the country. Make My Trip.com set up its Indian operations in September 2005 after four years of profitable operations in the US.

Source: Business Standard via Agency faqs

Amadeus partners with Air India to provide e-ticketing
Monday, May 7, 2007

Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, today announced the launch of electronic ticketing for Air India. Air India, India’s national air carrier, will offer the Amadeus-enabled e-ticketing service across all its domestic and international routes. Globally, Amadeus has 188 airline partners distributing e-tickets.

Mr.S.Venkat, Executive Director, Public Relations, Air India said, “Having been e-ticketing-enabled by Amadeus, ticket processing and monitoring are made faster and more efficient. Most importantly, we are now able to make more of our content available to travel agencies. This gives our passengers the benefit of greater convenience, reduced costs and time savings.”

“The travel industry in India is fast expanding and opening up many opportunities for growth. By turning to e-ticketing, it will enable Air India to keep up with industry progress by improving on both efficiency and customer service,” said Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director for Amadeus India. “With more than 51 percent of the market share in distribution, we are confident that Amadeus will provide an effective distribution channel for Air India.”

Added Damian Hickey, Vice President Airline Business Group Asia Pacific: “This is an invaluable opportunity to extend our capabilities in the dynamic Asian market and strengthen our market leadership position in the region. We are fully committed to providing Air India with tailored IT solutions to address the needs of their passengers and retail network. We will help provide distinct business benefits and cost savings for the airline.”

According to IATA, converting to e-ticketing would allow the airline industry to save up to an estimated US$3 billion a year.

Source: Moneycontrol.com

Planning your holidays on the Net could get simpler
Tuesday May 1,2007

The way you plan your travel itinerary is changing at the speed of Internet. To keep pace with the rest of the world, India too needs to focus on new online strategies for inbound and outbound travel, suggest organisers of an upcoming conference on the subject. To be held at the Hotel Inter Continental The Grand here May 18, the conference will focus on new opportunities for online travel payments and how to target, engage, fulfil and retain online customers, among other themes.

Among the speakers for the event are Travelguru.com CEO Ashwin Damera, Yatra.com co-founder Dhruv Shringi, and Travelocity India Managing Director Himanshu Singh. The conference is aimed at executives from airlines and hotels, online travel providers, tour operators and agencies, other travel suppliers, leisure and holiday travellers, corporate and business travellers and executives from software companies.

Growing Internet access and the enhanced popularity of cyberspace has made this medium a convenient way through which many plan their holidays, buy their tickets and book into hotels.

Currently, a number of networks offer an amazing range of information about travel in India - including collaboratively crafted enterprises like IndiaMike.com or chalukyas.com, which is 'a group of travel enthusiasts that provide accounts of trips and travel across India'.

One of the sites that offers credible information is incredibleindia.org, the official site of the ministry of tourism and culture. Other popular sites include indiatravelportal.com, Lonely Planet of India, Wikitravel (wikitravel.org/en/India).

Source: By IANS via Yahoo India News