By IANS,
Kolkata : eRevMax International, a global software and services house, which has expertise in connectivity, market intelligence, revenue and distribution management for travel and hospitality industries, is eyeing to tap India’s four- and three-star hotel markets to expand its business in the country.
“India’s online travel market has huge potential. The market is now maturing. So far we have targeted big five-star hotel groups in the country. Now we will be focusing on independent four- and three-star hotels to sell our solutions,” Sascha Hausmann, CEO, eRevMax International, told IANS here Friday.
The company has two leading products — RateTiger and SimpleDistribution. The first is a full service online distribution management solution for the travel and hospitality sector and SimpleDistribution, which is for hotel businesses only, is a web-based tool for market intelligence and channel management for cost sensitive businesses.
The company, incorporated in New Jersey in 2001, currently has leading five-star hotel groups, like Oberoi, Sahara and Wild Orchid, as its clients in India.
Hausmann said according to an estimate, India’s online travel market was now about a $18.5 billion industry.
“We will be targeting hotels, operated by hotel owner, with about 15 rooms in secondary locations,” he said.
The company has already hired local experts to tap small hotels market.
eRevMax caters to over 5000 customers in 65 countries and 750 cities worldwide.
The company has offices in the US, Britain, India, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Australia and South Africa.
The company, which has offices in Kolkata and Bangalore, is looking to expand its footprint in the country by opening offices in New Delhi and Mumbai soon.
“India is a unique country. It has big market like Europe. So we will apply the strategy, which we implemented in Europe, to build up the market in India,” Hausmann said.
He said the company, which currently got about four percent of its total turnover from India after its ten-year operation in the country, was aiming to increase the figure to 20 percent after three years. “It is our internal plan.”
“Online travel market in India, which currently constitutes about 15-17 percent of the entire travel market in the country, will grow at a faster rate in the coming years as the internet connectivity is increasing rapidly. I think online travel market will be about 50 percent of the total market after only three to four years,” he observed.
After opening offices in Beijing and Singapore this year, the company, which has its European headquarters in Dublin, will now be focusing on expanding operations in North Africa. It will mainly target Egypt and Morocco.
The company will also open its office in Dubai next year.
“We will open office in Dubai likely in the first half of 2012,” Husmann added.