TravelPort Holidays (India) Pvt Ltd, one of India’s fastest growing travel services firm, is set for massive expansions by setting up a chain of 200 retail outlets and increasing the number of franchisees from the current one hundred to three hundred by the end of the current financial year. It will also focus on B2B online play and expand on its overseas presence. The expansion programme comes in the wake of 20% Year on Year growth over the last three years.

As part of the expansion plan, it will set up eight franchisees in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and four more in other parts of Andhra Pradesh like Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada. Other towns are also being considered for setting up self service travel kiosks and TravelPort owned outlets.

Commenting on Andhra’s market potential, Ms. Heena Akkhtar, Chief Operating Officer, TravelPort said Hyderabad is a booming travel market with a lot of IT companies, BPOs & Financial services firms thriving and expanding. "Corporate travel and leisure travel are two segments that will see compounded growth in Hyderabad. With a million square feet of retail coming up in Hyderabad, interest in retail travel is also growing. This presents exciting opportunities for TravelPort franchisee outlets and TravelPort owned outlets," she added

"With more than one hundred franchisees across India, TravelPort already has a commendable offline presence. The infusion of retail outlets, over and above the franchisees, will give TravelPort a very strong offline presence with its network spread even in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. In the meantime, its online model is steadily capturing market share and fast emerging as a leading hotel and airline reservation portal. "The combination of the online and offline distribution model, and a strong emphasis on corporate clientele, gives TravelPort a clear edge," she adds.

Akkhtar believes that the tourism sector in India is poised for exponential growth and TravelPort is well placed to capitalize on this. As the first travel company to introduce the franchisee model in India, TravelPort is the business leader in this segment. The company’s Free Individual Travelers (FIT) division, MICE division and branded Corporate Loyalty Schemes (CLS) are market leaders. It is the largest domestic inbound tour operator for Goa.

"Rise in double income households and disposable incomes has led to increased spend in leisure travel, which is expected to grow by 40% over the next two years," says Heena Akhtaar. "There is also going to be a quantum growth in the luxury tours and travel to exotic destinations. We foresee vertical growth for TravelPort in all these segments."

The company is in the next quarter launching "Club Class by TravelPort" – a division exclusively catering to exotic destinations and super luxury tours. The division will focus on the Indian outbound market and initially offer services to selected destinations like South America, Korea, Japan and East Europe. It will also venture into new fields like experiential travel and honeymoon travel besides renewing focus on adventure and wildlife travel, sports travel and religious tours.

TravelPort ---Bringing The World Within Your Reach

Industry Trends:

In the last three years, every vertical in the travel industry has witnessed a change. Not only the way a travel business is conducted has changed, but business strategies and revenue models have undergone major transformations. With an 8% GDP growth, rising double income households and growing disposable income in the hands of the Indian middle class, travel no longer is a luxury indulged in by a select few. Today, travel is a priority and leads the leisure spend of a growing percentage of Indian populace. And with an incredibly large population of 1.1 billion, even a small percentage increase results in an exceptionally high revenue generation for the segment. Add to this, the hidden potential in rural India, and the growth projections become even more astounding.

The stellar set of market dynamics have resulted in many new destinations and tourism boards wooing the Indian traveler and establishing their presence in India, either directly or through representation.

If the outbound tourism growth pattern is overwhelming, then the inbound tourism is staggering. Tourist arrival to India touched the 5 million mark in 2007 and for-ex earning moved from 9 billion in 2006 to 12 billion in 2007. And this is expected to grow exponentially due to some benign Government policies. Budget 2007-08 has increased the provision for building tourism infrastructure to US $ 117 million. The policy guidelines also recommend increased private participation to promote tourism and travel.

TravelPort – Capitalizing on the market trends:

TravelPort Holidays (India) Pvt. Ltd., a specialist travel company dealing with both traditional and new age travel products, is one of India’s fastest growing travel services firm. With more than one hundred products and services, TravelPort offers one of the widest arrays of services for its growing clientele.

Since its launch five years back, TravelPort has carved a niche for itself in the leisure and business travel segment exhibiting a strong growth in the highly competitive and fragmented sector. It enjoys excellent relationship with all the major hotel networks and airlines and acts as a one stop shop for its customers covering basic facilities like ticketing and hotel reservations, for-ex facilities, travel insurance, domestic tours, inbound and outbound tours to complex custom made services that include Vac Pacs, Air Pacs, branded Customer Loyalty Programmes (CLS) and Incentive products among others. The company’s Free Individual Travelers (FIT) division, MICE division and branded Corporate Loyalty Schemes (CLS) are market leaders.

TravelPort is currently on an expansion spree and will set up a chain of 200 retail outlets and increase the number of franchisees from the current one hundred to three hundred by the end of the financial year. The infusion of retail outlets, over and above the franchisees, will give TravelPort a very strong offline presence with its network spread even in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Its online model, meanwhile, is steadily capturing market share and fast emerging as a leading hotel and airline reservation portal.

Besides creating innovative products, TravelPort has made a mark by leveraging technology and relationships, redefining the distribution channels and conceiving new business models. It was the first company to introduce the franchisee model in the travel business in India and is now a clear leader in this segment.

TravelPort – Products & Services:

Domestic Inbound:

With 600 preferred hotel partnerships, TravelPort has a clear advantage in the domestic inbound market. Over the years, the company has developed a client base of 40,000 travelers and has become the destination specialist for Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala – three of the most popular destinations of India. As of today, it is India’s largest domestic inbound operator to Goa.

TravelPort is the key supplier to leading OTAs and travel agents and its 101 ways to experience India has emerged as a very popular concept with the in-bound tourists.

As an off-season specialist, TravelPort is in a unique position to offer some of the most valuable deals during the non-peak seasons.

Outbound Tours:

Destination specialist for Egypt, Dubai, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Singapore, and Incentive Travel Specialist with over one hundred leading corporate clients, TravelPort has been re-defining the outbound tour market. Following a policy of constant innovation, it has been introducing top of the line luxury tours as also tours that are the some of the most economically priced in the world.

In line with this policy, it will soon be launching a division exclusively catering to exotic destinations and super luxury tours titled “Club Class by TravelPort”. This division will focus on exotic destinations and initially offer services to selected destinations like South America, Korea, Japan and East Europe.

Its “Hundred and ten ways to see the world the TravelPort way” has been hugely popular and has helped the company build a customer portfolio of 18,000 individuals and over 150 of India’s most respected brands and bluechip corporations.

Special Interest Tours:

As an evolving industry, travel & tourism sector is witnessing a demand for non-conventional products and services. Being a step ahead of emerging trends, TravelPort has conceived varied special interest tours that include Sports travel, Honeymoon packages, Holy Tours to religious destinations and Experiential Travel.

Branded Corporate Loyalty Schemes (CLS):

Corporate gifting is moving away from conventional products to new age services like travel and holidays. As a first mover into travel incentives and loyalty management programmes, TravelPort has entered into ongoing engagements with leading brands. And by bringing out some innovative products in this category, it has established itself as the unassailable Number 1 player in the category.

Some of the unique products in the category include:

• Vac Pac – Holidays and travel based promotion Tool
• Air Pac – Air Travel Based promotion tool
• TravelPort Sur(e) Prizes – Travel based Solutions
• Gift Certificates – Unique rewards program/Solutions for employees and channel partners
• Incentive Travel – Theme based incentive travel management
• Awards and Prizes –Travel based Prize management tool
• Bespoke Solutions for Rewards and Prize management

TravelPort – Distribution & Channels:

With its strong emphasis on distribution and channel partners, TravelPort has built for itself a very strong network of franchisees, direct retail outlets, self service travel kiosks and travel agent network that spreads into the remotest corners of India.

Franchisees:

As India’s first full service travel agency franchise, it created a business model that has set an industry trend. It currently has over one hundred franchisees that are expected to grow to three hundred by the end of the financial year. Being a knowledge industry, the franchisees are not only given exhaustive training but also constantly updated to enable them to provide top-of-the-line services to its clients.

Agent Network:

TravelPort’s travel agent network adds a fillip to its reach. It has over 1000 agents spread across 150 cities who benefit through TravelPort’s Empower Program for Travel Agents for branding and buying solutions.

Retail Outlets:

TravelPort has undertaken an expansion programme that will focus on setting up a chain of 200 retail outlets spread across the nation. Besides the retail outlets, TravelPort will set up kiosks in malls and self-service travel kiosks in branded departmental stores to give it an even wider reach.

- End -

TravelPort Corp:

TravelPort Corp is a unique programme conceived by the company for corporate clients to provide travel services and employee incentive management programmes. This service also includes access to dedicated websites for hotel booking services (www.hotelbook.in) and an online air travel engine (www.travelportair.com).

TravelPort Internet Properties:

• www.TravelPort.in - Corporate website
• www.TravReps.com - Representation Services.
• www.TPMediaindia.com - Transaction
• www.TravelPortAir.com - Online Air Booking Engine.
• www.Hotelbook.in - Hotel Booking Service.
• www.TravelDeelz.in - Deals Resource for travel agents.
• www.TravelDeelz.com - Global booking engine with Travelocity /Sabre holdings.
• www.Gogoaonline.com –Online reservations for Goa