New Delhi, Jul 21 (KNN) As more than 70 per cent of travel trade has gone online in India, the travel portals have significantly contributed to the increase of businesses for the mid-segment and small hotels, said a study adding that on the consumer confidence scale, a lot more needs to be corrected.

Over 70 per cent of travel trade in India has gone online and the figure will likely reach 85-90 per cent in the next five years with maximum of internet usage being seen in airlines ticketing, luxury and mid-segment hotel bookings and the Railways with the booking agents mushrooming even in smaller cities, an ASSOCHAM study has said. 

In so far as the star category hotels are concerned, the online looking is almost above 95 per cent, while among the mid-segment, it is catching up fast. It is somewhere in the range of 80-85 per cent among the popular tourist destinations, especially in the big cities. 

The study noted that the mushrooming growth of travel websites, some of them with big budgets, has contributed significantly to the online catching up with the tourists. “The trend is likely to only grow with more services on SMS, logistics supports, etc on the increase”, the study pointed out. 

The travel portals have also contributed to the increase of businesses for the mid-segment and small hotels, while on the consumer confidence scale, a lot more needs to be corrected. For instance, gaps are noticed between what is promised on the portal and what the real deal is. 

In the case of ticketing of airlines, the internet penetration and usage has already crossed  95 per cent with hardly anyone seen on the airlines counters or even at the counters of the travel agents, who themselves have gone online. 

The Railways too has made a significant dent in ticketing through internet. 

But the size of the internet usage in the Railways can be gauged from the fact that its subsidiary IRCTC, generates about one lakh e-tickets per day while two lakh people visit its web site daily.

“But as the e-governance enhances further and the Railways modernises, the level of internet penetration will increase even among the daily passengers and local commuters. At present, it is largely restricted to the express and mail trains, as indicated by our study,” ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said. 

However, it would also depend on the broadband spread in the rural areas and working of smart cards. 

While the hotel booking in the high-end and mid-segment has moved on the internet bookings, the progress is still lacking in the low segment hotels. In smaller cities, especially among the pilgrim centres, tourists still go un-booked, though the trend is changing. 

Despite some of the portals like Redbus etc…..the travel through buses has not really gone online for booking. 

One of the reasons is the sector is largely fragmented among the private operators, majority of whom operate on a small scale with fleet size as low as two three buses. On a national scale, the internet booking is less than 10 per cent as per estimates by the study.  

However, if there is one segment which has remained largely outside the Internet penetration – it is the foreign exchange business, “because of sensitivity of business and strict regulation”, it said. With newer technologies coming by the day, even the foreign exchange businesses of money-changing will shift fast to the online delivery models, while pre-paid limited period debit cards have been launched by leading money-changers. (KNN/SD)