Going after India’s multi-billion dollar online travel market – SWEETFARE.COM

95% of Web-initiated travel transactions in India will be fulfilled online.

The U.S. pioneer of travel search engines has positioned itself to be a major player in India’s rapid growing multi-billion dollar online travel market. Supported by an India and U.S.-based team, SweetFare.com is recognized as the industry’s most powerful flight search engine, offering shopping over an impressive 130 airlines, including more major and low cost airlines around-the-world than any other site.

The Emerging Travel Marketplace in India, crystallizes the online travel opportunity for us”, said Martin Gray, travel industry consultant and SweetFare.com co-founder. “The online travel market in India will be the most dynamic in Asia Pacific, and will experience strong growth over the next five years, PhoCusWright recently reports. Unlike in China, where only 3% of Web-initiated travel transactions were fulfilled online, 95% of such transactions will be fulfilled online as the Indian market develops.”

Nowhere has the growth of air travel been more spectacular than in India, where Air Deccan, SpiceJet, GoAir, and IndiGo have grown rapidly, taking a 29% share of the local market since deregulation began three years ago. SweetFare.com U.S. founder Charles Kao, OmniTravelSearch LLC, who first developed meta-search engines and acquired the patent in 1998, has been licensing their technology to other companies, but decided they the India and Asia market was too ripe and large not to launch their own consumer travel search engine site.

SweetFare.com’s industry-leading flight search, available on the new India site, provides real-time prices and itineraries from more than 130 travel Web sites including leading India and Asian low cost carriers, SpiceJet, King Fisher, Jet Airways; major mainstream carriers Air India, Thai Airways, Virgin Atlantic; and online travel agencies such as Expedia, Travelocity.

“Their entry into the Asia market, via India, is very strategic considering that Southeast Asia markets starting in January, 2008, all restrictions on the region’s carriers flying into neighboring countries will be lifted under the new free skies policy first negotiated by ASEAN a decade ago, said Joe Buhler, a PhoCusWright associate. “India’s rapid economic growth and rising prosperity, which are fueling travel growth, makes it a good place to start.”

Les Ottolenghi, CEO of Intent Media and recognized expert in meta-search industry, said, “TheSweetFare.com management and technology team are savvy veterans who know the travel meta-search business. They know how to balance their superior technology and content to meet the needs of the air travellers’ and airline vendors.”

About SweetFare.com
OmniTravelSearch LLC (OTS), owners of the meta-search engine patent and developer and licensor of several travel search engines, operates SweetFare.com. SweetFare is the world’s largest travel search engine, scouring more than 150 travel sites, providing prices and itineraries for hundreds of airlines and more than 175,000 hotels. Founded in 1997 by Simon Lin, OTS pioneered and was granted the patent for meta-search engines. It is supported by a team based in U.S.A and India, which include, such notables as Les Ottolenghi and Glenn Martin, founders of AgentWare and undisputed gurus of the meta-search industry.

About Promoters:

Charles Kao:

• Travel Industry Management – 30 years as CEO of a number of Charter Flight Companies, Retail Travel Agencies, Meeting & Convention Planner, Destination Management Companies, Special Interest Group & FIT operator, and Air Consolidator, based in US, Europe and Orient. Since 1995, Charlie has been very active in travel related eCommerce in over 20 countries.
• Travel Industry Consulting – providing travel and destination marketing, product development, and travel vendor educational programs for a period of 10 years for clients in US, Europe, and Orient/China. Clients included airlines (Pan American, Delta, British Airways, Japan Air Lines, etc.); tour operators (Insight International, Pan Am Vacations, Delta Dream Vacations, Certified Vacations…); tourist offices (Japan National Tourist Organization, Thailand Tourist Association, Foremost West Association-Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, etc.).
• Travel Technology – development, marketing and consultancy services worldwide, as Managing Director of Travelware since 1989. Focus is on technology needs of tour companies, hotels, airlines, car rental companies, travel management companies and Fortune 1000 companies’ travel departments…customers include Carlson WagonLit Travel, American Express Travel, Kuoni/Zurich, Grey Line Worldwide, Japan Travel Bureau International, Jet Vacations, Jetset Tours, Texas Instruments, Xerox, Allied Signal, Accor Group/Paris…). And, marketing development for software developers and eCommerce companies…customers include Travelink, ProLogic, Discovery Travel Systems, ProTour, Tiss.com, Lufthansa Systems, ICE, etc.
• Travel & Tourism Content, Communities, Marketplace/Exchange – management, aggregation and distribution of travel and tourism content B2B and B2C. Principal in various global businesses engaged in alternative GDS, meta-search, air and hotel consolidator marketplace, destination content, travel & tourism news, destination and hotel videos, etc…including TouReserve, Tiss.com, omnis-online, OmniTravelSearch, ICE, TravelMole (currently Publisher), etc.

Martin Gray:
Previously, as vice president of marketing at Holiday Inn Worldwide, Gray helped lead the development of ResCom World Access, Holiday Inn’s technology subsidiary that developed one of the travel industry’s first online booking engines in 1995. Subsequently, Gray was a principal in Agentware, Inc., an Internet technology company that powered AOL Travel, Kayak and GetThere.com.

Gray has also been president of Trusthouse Forte, Ltd., NA, and was responsible for the brand management of Forte Exclusive Hotels, which comprised some of the world’s finest luxury hotels, such as the Plaza Athene, the George V and the Ritz in Madrid. Gray also led the launch of Carnival Resorts and Casinos, which developed and operated The Crystal Palace Resort and Casino, Casinorama, Casino Rouge and Lucayan Beach Resort and Casino. Gray holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

For more information on SweetFare.com, please contact:

SweetFare.com
Prashant Mendiratta
+44 560 288 0984
+44 870 438 1045 Ext. 1
+91 981 880 9966
[email protected]

OmniTravelSearch LLC
Martin Gray
+1 310 237 1060 Ext 719
[email protected]