The Travel Portals: Part 1

Today i browsed through indian travel portals. The most popular ones are ClearTrip , MakeMyTrip, ezeeGo1, Yatra and TravelGuru. And there are relatively unpopular ones such as tripMela, rediff FareSearch, ixigo, 90di, travelocity, RajTravel and indiatimes travel site. The sites such as rediff FareSearch and ixigo are simple search engines which do not provide any ticket booking facility.

Here is a video file where i captured these popular portals:

Technical integration & business model of travel portals:

For integration and automation of booking and ticketing processes along with real-time access to flight details, Airline Reservations System (ARS) was evolved. Most of the travel portals use GDS (Global Distribution Systems) like Amadeus, Abacus and Galileo etc. - They provide access to full-service airline systems for fare/availability. These GDS companies have developed their own Web interfaces, and now sell their services directly to consumers ( online travel portals). The travel portals also have to register with IATA in order to do ticketing and settlement. Additionally, they register as an agent with low cost carriers and negotiate with the airlines for commissions and bonuses. Online advertising and commissions on ticket bookings is the main source of revenue for these travel portals. So which portal is the best ?? Well its a personal choice and experience. Here is my personal favourites in each category : Airlines, trains and bus ticket bookings:

ClearTrip.com

irctc.co.in

redbus.in

In my next posts, i will try to show some unique features of these portals. Also ill try to bring out a UI design of an All-in-One travel booking portal which will include air, train and bus train bookings together :).