Expedia Finally Enters India With Expedia.co.in
The much awaited Indian avtaar of the online travel company Expedia, which recorded gross bookings of $20 billion in 2007, is finally online at Expedia.co.in. The website claims to offer bookings of nearly 80,000 hotels and over 3,000 destination activities and attractions worldwide.
“Indian online travel market is estimated to be worth over $2 billion for 2007-08 and is growing rapidly,” Sharat Dhall, managing director, Expedia.co.in, has said. “Expedia is the global leader in online travel, operating in 17 countries, and last year alone, we helped more than 26 million people find a room for the night and put more than 22 million travellers on airplanes. We are very excited to help Indian travellers research, plan and book their perfect holiday.”
According to a recent research by JuxtConsult, about 36 per cent of all regular online Indians have bought a travel product online, making it the seventh most popular online activity among urban Indians. A finding from Online Travel Brand Momentux also found that for the Oct-Nov-Dec quarter of 2007 the percentage of online travel booking was 9% of the overall pie, against 3% for the previous quarter.
While these statistics are attracting a number of players, according to Cleartrip, hotel bookings have not taken off in a big way online, which is promoting an emphasis on the offline model for a number of the players as well.
In a mix such as this, it would be interesting to see how Expedia fares.
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