IAMAI Travel and Tourism Summit 2014
New Delhi, August 06, 2014: Speaking at the 5th Travel and Tourism Summit organized by The Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Raini Hasija, Group General Manager- IT, IRCTC said that IRCTC is geared up for booking over 10,000 tickets per minute online. She said, “At present we book around 10,000 tickets online per minute which is beyond our expectations. When we launched this service, our target was to book 7,200 tickets per minute. With over 2 lakh agents booking through IRCTC, we are gearing-up to higher ticketing per minute in time to come.”
The Travel & Tourism Summit saw a milieu of industry leaders speaking about the growth of the digital travel trade. According to Andy Sleigh, General Manager – Asia Pacific, SkyScanner the Global OTA aggregator, “India is a key focus market for us as we see an immense opportunity in mobile bookings related to travel. We have 18 partners in India and with growing smartphone users, our interest in this market is definitely increasing.”
The growth of mobile bookings in the days to come will increase exponentially. Speaking at the IAMAI Travel & Tourism Summit, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder & CEO, MakeMy Trip, said, “Mobile has become the game changer in travel industry. Mobile today is fastest growing channel in India with 330 million mobile internet users expected by 2015. 50% of Google search related to travel is happening on mobile and 13% of our total transaction happens via mobile.”
According to Pramod Sahni, Advisor – Turkey Tourism, “Indian carriers produce revenue of close to USD10 billion annually, whereas global carriers generate revenue of close to USD 6.3 billion. The entire process of travel has become more seamless and organized both for businesses and consumers and it is evident from the act that 50% of air tickets are booked online.”
Speaking on the growth of online travel industry, Vishwadeep Baja, CEO – ValueFirst Digital Media, said, “Internet is essential for inspiring new travelers. We have seen 52% consumers, research online before transacting.” This sentiment was echoed by Nikhil Ganju, Country Head – TripAdvisor. According to Nikhil Ganju, “Hotel bookings are driven by online research. Hotel reviews by local are a driving factor in selecting a particular property. It is interesting to see that 30% of India’s TripAdvisor users are coming to the site using their mobile device.”
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