iXiGO’s growth heralds a new era in Indian online travel, that of a pure-play travel search, where users can search across travel websites and make more qualified booking decisions, without the need to work with an intermediary and pay additional service fees. The growth of this medium means that suppliers now have a more direct and targeted marketing platform that can yield higher conversion rates than search engine marketing on horizontal portals such as Google or Yahoo.
The rise of travel search engines is a boon for airlines and hoteliers, who can now use price-differentiation and “web-only”
iXiGO’s quick growth has garnered the attention of the industry in India and industry executive are eager to learn how and why they should embrace this alternate channel to reach consumers, beyond traditional online travel agencies. As a panelist at a recently concluded eyefortravel summit in Mumbai, Aloke Bajpai, Founder & CEO of iXiGO said – “The support of our airline partners and the great feedback of our users drive our innovation. We will extend the same user delight that our flight search users experienced, to our hotels platform, and more”.
Launched in June, iXiGO, allows users to search and book directly on airline websites (unlike intermediary Online Travel portals), thereby offering the lowest possible direct fares. With regular launch of differentiated features such as 1-click booking, fare outlook and multi-airline, multi-stop combinations, iXiGO has already become the number one lead generator in the travel search space for two major airlines in India. Dharmendra Yashovardhan, Head of Marketing, adds with an air of confidence, “Travel Search in India has the potential to leapfrog and overtake the Online Travel Agencies in a few years’ time. iXiGO will be at the forefront when that happens”.
