Online travel major launches Indian site

CHENNAI, INDIA: Global online travel company Expedia Inc Thursday marked its presence in India with the launch of its online travel booking site targeted specifically at the Indian market.

'Indian online travel market is estimated to be worth over $2 billion for 2007-08 and is growing rapidly. The number of Indians travelling abroad is also growing,' said Sharat Dhall, managing director of expedia.co.in, the company's India portal.

The company said it was the global leader in online travel, operating in 17 countries. 'In the last year alone, we have helped more than 26 million people find a room for the night and put more than 22 million travellers on airplanes.'

The expedia.co.in site allows payment in Indian rupees.

'The launch of Expedia India provides us an additional foothold as we continue to invest aggressively in Asia to match the enormous scale and potential of the region,' said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia Inc.

'Our goal is to grow our international revenue to half of our total revenue, and burgeoning travel markets like India are key to achieving that goal.'

Founded ten years ago, the company first invested in the Asian travel market in 2005 through its investment in eLong, a leading online travel company in China.

Over 50 million people visit Expedia's global websites each month, the company said.

Source: India PRwire