Online Travel Pioneer Travelocity launches in India

After what www.travelocity.com calls revolutionising the face of travel internationally, Travelocity, a pioneer of consumer-direct online travel services is now being launched in India.

Travelocity, today unveiled its Indian online travel agency web site: www.travelocity.co.in and introduced its India teams, based in Delhi and Mumbai.

The new Travelocity India website offers Indian travellers an unprecedented choice of 72,000 hotels, 1,000 cruises and over 4,000 popular sights, tours and activities in the world’s favorite destinations along with destination guides and other travel tools.

Visiting India to celebrate the launch, President Travelocity Asia Pacific and ZUJI CEO Scott Blume, commented, “Our team is in place, our site is ready, and we are poised to revolutionise the way hotels are booked in India.”

The focus on real-time local and international hotel reservations marks a strategic differentiator for Travelocity versus many other online travel agencies (OTAs) in India.

Further, Travelocity India is the only online travel agency with internationally tried-and-tested, robust online reservation and payment technology that has been customised for Indian travellers. This sophisticated technology enables real-time availability search and confirmation of hotel bookings over the internet, and gives travellers access to great value travel deals which have been sourced ‘locally’ all around the world.

Indian hoteliers have embraced the chance to distribute hotel rooms online on Travelocity India, as well as via ZUJI sites across Asia Pacific, www.lastminute.com sites in Europe and www.travelocity.com in North America.

“Do we think the Indian travelling public is ready to book hotels online – categorically ‘yes’.

We’ve already processed many bookings from eager travellers showing that Indians are very ready, willing and able to make real-time hotel bookings online with Travelocity India,” said Himanshu Singh, Managing Director of Travelocity India.

Indian consumers can visit www.travelocity.co.in to book a hotel, in real time, in much the same way as they may have already booked a flight online. Travellers can search and find available hotels for when they want to travel, review hotel information and traveller reviews, make a reservation which is then instantly confirmed over the internet, and pay securely online in Indian Rupees.

In another first, Travelocity India offers its consumers the ability to book more than 1,000 global cruises, available at wholesale rates with prices shown in Indian rupees. Interested travellers can make a toll free call to speak with a cruise travel expert in order to help plan a memorable experience.

Travelocity India also offers travellers the ability to find and pre-book 4,000 popular sights, tours and activities by interest or in popular destinations worldwide, including city tours and access destination guides and other travel tools.

Indian travellers can book travel online with absolute confidence with Travelocity India. The OTA offers high internet security policy and an in-depth privacy policy to ensure travellers of confidentiality, and help to book is at hand if needed by phone or email.

Sabre-owned Travelocity is a force to be reckoned with in online travel, and is still growing. In 2006, Travelocity’s global gross travel booked exceeded US$10 billion, up 35% on 2005 results. In 2006, Travelocity’s global revenue was more than US$1billion, growth of 31% over 2005. Travelocity sold 16.6 million hotel room nights in 2006, up 30% on 2005. In Asia Pacific alone, room night sales increased by 90% in 2006 over 2005. Room nights sold from ZUJI sites in Asia Pacific grew year over year by 250%. Travelocity India’s launch extends Sabre Holdings’ already established footprint in India. Travelocity India role is to establish itself as the best place to book hotels in India.

Report by The Mole