EaseMyTrip, India’s third largest online ticketing and travel company after MakeMyTrip-Ibibo and Ebix-Yatra combines, is planning to expand its international footprint to support its customers and grow its hotel booking and holiday package businesses, a company executive said.
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The company, which does not charge transaction fee from customers unlike other online travel companies and even the airlines, has already established its presence in Thailand, UAE, Singapore, Maldives, and U.K.. It is also planning to set up offices in the U.S. and Europe.
“Recently we started foraying into international markets and now want to expand our base. We will set up offices in multiple locations in the U.S. and Europe. Each office will involve an investment of around $1 million,” Prashant Pitti, executive director and CTO, EaseMyTrip, said.
On the rationale behind going big internationally he said, “We observed that around 17% of total international visitors travel for the first time. So we started identifying all their pain points. One of the key findings was that when first time abroad, they are most anxious as soon as they land at an international airport since they heavily depend on the driver for pick-up and drop at their hotel. And it turned out that these drivers were usually late around 23% of the time, causing anxiety,” he said.
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“So we decided to have our local staff and offices in those international cities where Indians travel the most and make sure that our staff and drivers always wait at the airport at the time of their arrival. Besides, having local offices help get better rates from local hotels and restaurants, who generally prefer not to work with companies based outside their countries,” he said.
He said the company has chalked out a plan to scale up its new businesses of hotel reservations and holiday packages which are gaining traction.