 "Sachin bats for online travel portal")
The portal which is operating in the UAE since 2007 launched its India business today. About 60% of the investment will be towards marketing, promotions and branding and the rest on operations.
The portal will focus on leisure holidays business and launch applications and tools enabling customers to plan and customise their travel.
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"Initially we expect about 90% of revenue will come from airline ticketing and the rest from non ticketing business which includes tours and hotel reservations. We are expecting hundred% growth in non airline business over next few years,'' said portal co founder Albert Dias.
Dias along with Sachin Gadoya founded Musafir.com. Its parent company Universal Travels and Tourism along with businessman Mehul Thakur and Tendulkar are co-owners in the Indian business.
Dias said Tendulkar has a nominal stake in the company and refused to elaborate but other sources said he had invested in the firm. However the cricket player will not be involved in the management of the portal.
Actor Salman Khan owns a stake and is a brand ambassador of Yatra.com
The top three online portals in India, Makemytrip, Yatra.com and Cleatrip.com control about 90% of the online travel business and new player like Musafir.com face an uphill task to carve out a market for itself.
Also the sector itself is under pressure and margins are thin in airline ticketing business which still accounts for 60-80% of revenue for portals. A few portals shut down operations because of mounting losses.
Industry sources also list other challenges. "Selling holiday packages online is not as easy as selling air tickets. Indian market is yet to mature for it. Usually you also require another interface like a call centre to handle customer travel queries,'' a source pointed out.
Dias said their portal will avoid the mistakes committed by some other companies and will not indulge in heavy discounting to attract business as it is not sustainable practice.