KAHINI CHAKRABORTY – Mumbai
Goibibo.com, a part of the MIH India Group, is going to add trains, holidays and outbound hotels inventory onto the website by April this year. The company is also focusing on advancing its technology and customer care services. Talking to Express TravelWorld, Sanjay Bhasin, managing director, Goibibo.com said, “With about 10 per cent of the total sales accounted from mobile, the scenario is likely to change to around 30-40 per cent with the development of 4G and 3G now performing as it should be. Going by this understanding the company is very focused on investing in technological advancements and tapping the mobile segment- Android, iOS, HTML 5, Microsoft version.” Since the company concentrates on the B2C segment to double its business growth, its parent company Naspers which took over Gurgaon-based travel company Tek Travels, which owns B2B travel portal Travel Boutique Online, handles the B2B space in the Indian market.
Goibibo.com recently also launched Flight Advice – a recommendation engine for international flights. Traditionally flights are sorted based on lowest prices. Goibibo Flight Advise learns from user search pattern and then ranks the flights based on its cancellation policy, duration taken, stops, fares etc to deliver the most relevant results. While on the mobile segment it launched Goibibo Mobile app flight bookings, it is soon going to add the bus vertical and hotels to complete the mobile offering.
Talking about the current travel trends, Bhasin opined, “Adventure tours and weekend gateways are the current travel trends seen among travellers these days. Although the number of travel days have reduced, the number of trips have increased. Travellers are keen to take more number of shorter duration holidays.”
