Rail Europe India has switched gears to woo travellers who are planning to holiday in the European continent through their new mobile app. Kunal Kothari, Executive Director, Rail Europe India pointed out that travel is becoming increasingly smooth and user-friendly these days and this is what has prompted them to launch a mobile app. “This mobile app has been in the making for some time now. It has a lot of interesting features and isn’t meant only for those who book through our website. For instance the tickets that you book through an agent can also be imported into this. Passengers can also keep track of train timings. So when you land into Europe, this app becomes like your travel guide if you’re travelling by Rail.”
Rail Europe’s website, www.raileurope.co.in, has also been upgraded for a better user experience enabling passengers to interact with each other about their holiday experiences and also seek advice from Rail Europe.
Speaking about the growth in demand from India, Kothari added that, even though India is still a maturing market for rail tourism, Rail Europe 4A has registered a consistent 18 per cent growth here. “More and more travel within Europe is moving towards high-speed trains and newer routes are bringing the travel time between most cities down drastically. These trains are yield managed and have a wide range of fares. A travel planned/booked in advance can get you fares almost 1/6th of the full fare. So it is natural that we will see increasing preference for these trains as against passes as holidays are evolving to cover limited destinations over 10-17 days period,” he stated.
Talking about Rail Europe’s various offers, he spoke about the deals like ‘One day free’ with the Swiss Pass, 20 per cent off on the Italy pass and BritRail pass respectively. “The trend mirrors the overall growth of India. Increase in Non-European products as well as High-Speed Trains and point to point tickets. Drop in Eurail Pass sales and increase in National Passes, especially to Switzerland,” he added.
While talking about their association with the travel trade in India, Kothari lauded the General Sales Agents (GSAs) appointed by the company and said that they were instrumental in their journey. “Rail Europe has been in India through its GSAs since 1995 and our approach to business was with the support of its GSAs world-wide. This continues to be our most preferred mode of distribution, especially in India. We do get bookings on our website as well but that number is far too small as compared to what our GSAs churn annually,” he said.
