Uplink

Another player enters Indian online travel space

ETW Staff - Mumbai

The Indian online travel segment will see some more action. Global travel portal Travelocity will establish an online travel team in India for its India-specific site slated to be in operation by 2006 end. The team will be based in Mumbai.

Scott Blume, CEO of Zuji

The company's India business will be built on the technology foundations of Zuji, a Singapore-based company acquired by Travelocity that has travel sites operating across the Asia Pacific region including Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong.

Speaking about the entry into India, Scott Blume, CEO of Zuji, said that he predicts a 30 per cent increase in the online travel business in India in the next five years. "The future of travel bookings in India is online. Just as we have seen the trend towards online travel bookings grow rapidly in the US, and now in parts of Asia, we absolutely believe that the global trend to book travel online has begun to find growing acceptance in India. It is a decision we have made after much research. But ultimately it is because of our confidence in the Indian economy, the rapid growth of the outbound and inbound sectors, the growing trend towards e-purchasing in general, and the pool of talented people here," he added.

In preparation for launch, Zuji will ramp up its hotel contracting team. Indian hotels that will choose to make their rooms available on the site will also gain immediate access to an audience of global travellers via Travelocity's network of online travel sites across Asia, the US and Europe. Travelocity and parent company Sabre Holdings already have significant investment in India with an established network of call centres and product teams as well as a technology development team in Bangalore.