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Sonam Saini and Bhoomika Thakur

The world is increasingly becoming social and mobile. With the advent ofSmartphones, tablets and e-readers, the number of tech-savvy con-sumers is rising. There are already 2 million Android devices and 10 millionSmartphones being used every day, having a significant impact on busi-nesses and consumers. The introduction of Smartphones and mobileapps have made life of a traveller little easier. Now, you do not need tovisit a tour operator or tour company for your travel queries because a lit-tle gadget in your hands can work all this for you.

According to the recently published Google report, Hotel searches viamobile grew 30 times from 2011 to 2014 and hotel buyers will grow to 2.4

times by the end of 2016. Moreover, 56 per cent of users who book hotelsonline have a travel app as well.

In this story, we have incorporated the views of travel agents and mo-bile app companies to find out the answer to the question raised by thisrevolutionary change that who will conquer the future travel dominance-a mobile app or a travel agent? The story gives an idea on how the touroperators are matching their existence in competition with the mobileapps, which provides attractive deals for the travellers every day. We havealso tried to analyze the impact that this competition has generated inthe tourism market and what potentials does it hold for future.

Holiday IQ, with over 30 lakh members from 80+ Indian cities is India’sfirst holiday planning website powered entirely by reviews, photos, videos

MOBILE APPS OR TRAVEL AGENTS -WHO WILL CONQUER THE FUTURE

TRAVEL DOMINANCE?BOOMING TREND OF MOBILE APPS FOR TRAVEL IS GIVING A STRONG COMPETITION TO THE TOUR

OPERATORS. IN SPITE OF THIS FASTEST GROWING TREND, TOUR OPERATORS BELIEVE THAT IT’S NOTGOING TO COMPLETELY AFFECT THEIR BUSINESS AS IT STILL LACKS THE HUMAN TOUCH AND

PERSONALIZED ATTENTION.

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and other advice generated from these Indian travellers. The companyclaims to serve around 50 lakh Indian travellers plan their vacations onHolidayIQ.com every month of which 50 per cent activity is through mo-bile.

Commenting on the mobile app innovation and how Holiday IQ man-ages to maintain a desirability in the competitive market, Hari Nair,Founder & CEO, Holiday IQ, said, “HolidayIQ.com provides highly cus-tomized rich information and insights on places, hotels, sightseeing andtransport made uniquely relevant, what we call the ‘science of holidays’.We take pride in enabling travellers to discover, plan holidays and shareholiday experiences.”

Sharing the success story of their app, Nair said that Holiday IQ’s onlinetravel app received tremendous response within a couple of days after itwas launched in October 2014 trending at the play store. “However, ourconstant battle within our team was to provide access to this large data-base of information on-the-go, where internet accessibility is the biggestchallenge. We have touched 98,306 mobile downloads of the Holiday IQapp so far, and are undoubtedly certain that this offline feature will bean added impetus to every traveller search,” he said.

Nair believes that the offline guides will certainly prove to be everytraveller’s boon especially when travelling in rural pockets of the country,jungles, desserts, hilly areas etc.

Talking about this changing trend and how mobile apps should beadopted, Keshav Kumar, General Manager, Perfect Travels & Tour Pvt.Ltd., said that in the present era of technology advancement, there is nodoubt that mobile apps in general have conquered huge success over thepast few years. “Looking at recent statistics, it is clear that mobile appshave become a critical component for travel companies,” he added.

Commenting on the reasons behind this revolutionary change of book-ing through mobile app, Kumar said, “Mobile technology has changed theway people plan, research and book their travel arrangements and alsocreated a new way for travel agents to capture customers.”

“In order to drive our forces with the mobile technology, we also havein our plan for future to send tailored promotions directly to a customer'smobile, increasing the chances the message to be read and helping driveto create demand during low periods. By tailoring promotions, we are ableto interact in a more personal way with customers and send more relevantpromotions,” Kumar added.

Kumar suggested the travel agents to plan and design a mobilefriendly website and app offering services to people using mobile devicesthereby creating an edge over competitors who are slow or failing to re-spond.

“Convenience of booking from your desk and the liberty to comparerates, products and limited time are few reasons for the revolutionarychange brought by the mobile apps,” said H. S. Duggal, Managing Director,Minar Travels (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Referring this change as a futuristic sign, Duggal said, “Immediately,I don’t see a large impact on tour operator business but in future it willcertainly have its adverse impact on their business.” Although their web-sites are mobile compatible, yet Minar Travels is in the process of launch-ing its own app soon, he informed.

Echoing similar sentiments, Homa Mistry, CEO, Trail Blazer Tours India,said, “Introduction of mobile app has not yet affected the inbound indus-try as we are in the B2B segment working with international tour opera-tors. But yes, in coming times mobile app will completely change theshape of travel industry.”

According to a research conducted by TripAdvisor, most of the globaltravellers are attached to their mobiles and becoming tech savvy. Indialeads the pack with 98 per cent of travellers from each country sayingthey use their Smartphones on holiday. 41 per cent Indians use theirSmartphone to find things to do and 35 per cent to search for hotels. De-spite the increasing number of travellers using their mobile to plan andresearch, the trend has not yet crossed over to the booking stage.

Commenting on this research, Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAd-visor India, said, “The most exciting part is the huge opportunity that mo-bile booking represents with a significant portion of travellers using theirSmartphones to find things to do and search for hotels whilst they aretravelling. The good news is that the majority of Indian hoteliers alreadyhave mobile offering for travellers and of those who don’t, nearly two-thirds plan to introduce it in 2014. It is only a matter of time before thisgap is bridged and booking process on mobiles is facilitated to reach morepeople on the go.”

Mentioning this tool as a game changer, Shiban Kotru, President,UniGlobe Indica, Travel & Tours Pvt. Ltd., said, “Working of tour operatorsin India is still based on conventional system and the business of traveland tourism is by and large covered under this conventional system itself.The new mobile app introduced will make fringe benefits to this businesswith more exposure to services. Mobile app tool will prove to be a gamechanger and sizable percentage of business will get affected.”

Although, in today’s phase, planning a vacation through an app is amost frequent activity, the on-ground services that a travel agent offersare also non-ignorant. Sharing the same views, Sanjay Datta, ManagingDirector, Airborne Holidays, said, “The challenge is definitely there butwhat a traditional agent can offer in terms of value is not comparablewith apps or internet. Traditional travel agents will always thrive becausea traveller always looks for such travel agents who believe in selling serv-ices rather than discounts. In U.S.A, the passengers are coming back totraditional travel agents after realizing the value and expertise of agents.”

Saying so, Datta believes that in future, Airborne Holidays might needto launch the app but in current situation they don’t feel the requirement.He said, “Maybe in near future we will launch the app, but not immedi-ately. Our clients are all high end and they depend on us to provide serv-

Nikhil Ganju H.S. Duggal Sharat Dhall


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ices as per their requirements.”There are already 2 million android devices

and 10 million smart phones being used everyday, having a significant impact on businessesand consumers. There is an increased focus onmobility with on-the-go applications, providinga host of solutions and it also helps connect di-rectly with the consumer and engage customersthrough applications.

Datta also praised the services offered bythese apps and stated, “Since everyone is hold-ing a Smartphone, now it’s easier to get infor-mation instantly rather than calling anyone forthe same. So, yes the change is inevitable &technology is ever changing but soon it willreach its optimum.”

Commenting on this trend of travel bookingsthrough mobile apps, Sharat Dhall, President,Yatra.com, thinks that the special packages andconvenience of bookings are reasons behind theuprising of this trend. He said, “An app is con-sidered more user friendly as there is an ease ofbooking at your own convenience, anytime andeverywhere. Mobile apps have a distinct advan-tage of engaging the user due to more relevantand contextual targeting and personalized prod-uct offerings definitely lead to creating happytravellers.”

Dhall mentioned that since the introductionof the mobile app, they have witnessed morevisibility and growth. “The app has definitelyhelped us gain more visibility, maintain a higherdegree of brand with end consumers and alsoincrease and expand our customer base. Ouruser base via the mobile has seen a humongousgrowth. There are significant technology effortsbeing undertaken at our end to provide a highlypersonalised experience over the mobile. Wenow get over 30 per cent of our business fromthe mobile platform,” he added.

It is said that what is there on the menu isnot served on the platter while booking travelitineraries online. In contradiction to this state-ment, Dhall said that not only Yatra but alsomost of the mobile app companies ensure thattravellers get everything that is on offer and if

they do not have something, it is clearly men-tioned.

“Apps are making their mark on our lives andhow we do business already. At Yatra, we alwaysmake sure that our users get the best dealswhile making their travel bookings. We alwaysoffer what is available,” he adds.

Going through all the views of the tour oper-ators and travel app companies, we can say thatmobile travel app revolution has somehowmanaged to create its own space. May be notcompletely but certainly, it will increase the ef-ficiency of the work, as said by some of the touroperators. People are adopting this new age cul-ture with a broad mind. Also, keeping in mindthe efficiency of a mobile app, some of the touroperators who currently don’t have an app areplanning to introduce it soon. The introductionof the mobile apps will surely benefit their busi-ness in many ways.

Talking about meeting the customer satis-faction and requirements, Smartphone appshave a bright future as they provide 24*7 serv-

ices, anytime and anywhere. Today’s travellerneeds anything and everything right away andapps are fulfilling their expectations, savingtheir time.

The evolution of Smartphones and mobileapplications has not only enhanced the overallbooking experience by bringing OTAs (OnlineTravel Agents) to the fingertips of travellers, infact, travellers have started referring to OTAsfor destination research.

Also we can look at the statistics, whichshows that mobile booking is the next growthfrontier. While only 3 per cent of Indian trav-ellers booked the accommodation for their lasttrip via mobile, there are 81 per cent of Indianhotels who offer their services through an appto travellers as compared to the global averageof 76 per cent.

In spite, of this fastest growing trend, it’s notgoing to completely affect the business of thetour operators as it still lacks the human touch,personalized attention and value service thatthey provide to its customers.

Homa Mistry Hari Nair Sanjay Datta

Shiban Kotru Keshav Kumar


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