Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008 - (Page 5)

news n ‘Local Loyalties Win the Day in India’ concludes ITB Asia session panel ithin India, regional reach and local brand loyalties tend to triumph over national brands and strategies. That was the view of panelists at the Web in Travel session ‘Market Ideas: India’, which took place at ITB Asia. Such a trend is not surprising, considering the Indian marketplace has 25 official languages and over one billion people. “It is important to adopt a multilingual approach given India’s economic, cultural and demographic landscape, to understand the critical aspects of India’s travel and online travel, the dynamics that make this market so unique, and the essential strategies required for success,” said Mr Dhruv Shiringi, CEO of India-based Yatra.com. “This is why international portals such as Expedia and Travelocity had been unsuccessful in making inroads into the Indian online travel market.” Online travel portal Yatra.Com, generates a monthly turnover of US$17.5 million, the bulk of which comes from domestic flights. Mr Phanindra Sama, co-founder and CEO of Redbus, India’s largest bus tickets aggregator, made it clear that it was important to identify a target market and concentrate on servicing this sector. The top 10% of income earners is responsible for 30% of the market turnover, he said. Members of the panel agreed that the financial meltdown in the global market had little impact on India’s online travel market, which is predominantly based on domestic travel. In fact, travel is the largest e-commerce category in India. There are at least a dozen portals in India’s online travel market, which is pegged at around US$2 billion and expected to grow to US$6 billion by 2010, according to PhoCusWright Inc. Indians are visiting these sites to hunt for the most affordable airline tickets, hotel rooms and tour packages, said session moderator, Mr Ram Badrinathan, senior director, research, PhoCusWright Inc. The session speakers agreed that India’s online travel market was at the intermediate stage with great potential for significant expansion. “India has achieved this level of growth with third grade infrastructure, so much more can be achieved,” said Mr Keyur Joshi co-founder of Makemytrip.com. “Investment is pouring into India’s travel industry across the value chain, including airports, roads, railways, airlines, hospitality and travel www.travelnewseurope.com W retailing.” Makemytrip.com is one of India’s major tour operators with 22 locations in the country. According to PhoCusWright, the total base of internet users in India is estimated at 49.4 million. 82% of online Indians come from urban areas while 18% are from rural areas. At these levels, internet penetration stands at 4.5% of India’s total population. November 2008 TRAVEL NEWS EUROPE http://www.Makemytrip.com http://www.Yatra.com http://www.Yatra.Com http://www.sonesta.com http://www.Makemytrip.com http://www.travelnewseurope.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008

Cover&Contents
NEWS
WTM News Pages
DESTINATIONS - Tanzania
DESTINATIONS - India
BUSINESS - Winter Holidays
BUSINESS - Exhibitions

Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008

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