Travel site MakeMyTrip goes the app way

MUMBAI, INDIA: Travel portal MakeMyTrip has decided to tap the app route.

The company has announced an app-only sale upto November 2, in a bid to cash-in the festive season.

MakeMyTrip expects to see a fivefold surge in traffic during the offer period, which will close on November 2. The company will offer cash backs and discounts on flight and hotel bookings during the sale, it said in a press release.

MakeMyTrip said it has crossed 12 million app downloads so far with 1.2 million downloads in September. It claimed that traffic from mobile apps has grown 250-300 percent year-on-year in the past few years.

The online travel portal said unique visitors from mobile apps stood at 20 percent in 2013, which grew to 33 percent in 2014 and will soon reach the half-way mark.

Mobile bookings contribute about 25 percent of domestic flights-bookings and nearly 50 percent of total online domestic hotel transactions, it added.

"We strongly believe that the future of travel buying experience is on the mobile platform—the shift is already underway. We are strongly focused on strengthening our mobile technology," said Rajesh Magow, CEO and co-Founder, MakeMyTrip.com.

It must be recalled that earlier this month, online marketplace Flipkart offered an app-only sale across categories and said it had seen manifold growth in sales compared to last year when the sale could also be accessed through the desktop.