TECHNOLOGY WILL CONTINUE TO RULE

The GDS business is flourishing in India and looks very promising in the years to come. Constant reworking on the business models and introduction of newer and innovative products played a key role in bringing up the graph. There is no doubt that the slump left a bad affect on the corporate travel and inbound traffic but then, there is always a positive side to everything. This resulted in a better domestic scenario with the domestic tourism picking up and aggressive promotions by the respective tourism boards. Companies diversified their portfolios with niche product offerings and tested the water with new avenues of marketing like social media. For the GDS market, this year will continue to witness a steep rise in domestic segment. Also, with the booming hospitality industry and more and more hotels coming up, this will surely place the country as a value for money destination. Outbound segment is also expected to grow significantly this year. Dynamics and business models are undergoing rapid changes and the focus will be on education and upgrading skills of agents to cater to new business requirements. Adapting and harnessing new technology to make operations more efficient and profitable will also be the major thrust this year. Last year several new technology additions were made to the system which helped in optimisation of resources. The user friendly technology thus facilitated a handy functioning and accessibility of content to the agents reaching the end customer. India will surely maintain and strengthen its positioning as a world tourism destination, thanks to the government and tourism initiatives like ‘Incredible India’ and other special events like Common Wealth etc which take place from time to time and boost the travel segment in its own way. Also, Dynamic Packaging by our tour and travel agents will continue to be one of the growth drivers for the industry this year. As I mentioned earlier, we can expect a rise in the number of corporate travel which would be a welcoming advancement in customer demand for the hospitality and travel sector. The new age travel agents going online will also drive the industry in 2011. Internet penetration has already shown a great result and it is expected to rope in even more customers and will be an important aspect in the coming year. The year 2010 witnessed a start of the new trend of planned spontaneity, which is likely to grow further in 2011. mCommerce is going to play a vital role in catalysing the growth of this new trend. 2011 will see plenty of people planning a spontaneous holiday or weekend getaway. We already are seeing the change and a lot of it being domestic travel. People prefer short weekend trips to closer or unexplored destinations within the country to get a quick breather! Having said this, outbound tourism is experiencing a strong and steady growth, driven by the rapidly increasing Indian middle class. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates a 4.5 per cent per annum increase in the total amount of travel and tourism economic activity between 2002 and 2012. This can be largely attributed to the overall growth in the global wealth and use of the Internet as a travel tool. Secondly luxury travel has increased drastically is seeing strong growths this year. Travellers have become more aware and they prefer to go on a customised tour. The customised holiday segment showcases changing trends in travel year-on-year, as the economy and consumer attitude towards travelling are changing with time. Rather than regular places, travellers are becoming more innovative of late and prefer offbeat locations. There has been an increase in travellers opting for luxury holidays that are intricately designed and preferences are for destinations that highlight history, art and culture, beach holidays, castles, villas and palace stays; wildlife safari, spa packages, adventure tours, etc. This will be one of the main focus areas for tour operators. Right now, the online travel industry is witnessing a major growth in purchase of hotel products and for single destination holidays compared to 2010. Single destination holidays are primarily being driven by domestic destinations to begin with. Aggressive outbound growth especially to the South East Asian (SEA) sector and other short haul destinations will be observed this year. This will be triggered by airlines adding new routes and increasing frequencies. While the domestic air ticket booking online has grown rapidly, point to point air booking will grow further this year. Transactions through the mobile platform via iPhone, Blackberry and Android software are also growing steadily and as more customer trust is ensured on this medium, m-commerce will see significant increase. Technology is going to play a big role in the rapidly evolving travel industry and needs to be used as a tool for future growth. The author, J B Singh, President and CEO, ITQ