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TRAVEL ON-LINE Taxi On The Net The on-line tourism industry could take a t(r)ip or two from Karachi Taxi's hard-nosed Net strategy. But what about scalability as the stakes get higher? By Aparna Ramalingam
A peek under the hood of this Rs 11-crore firm with a captive fleet of 1,000 cars reveals a successful internet strategy. Managed by brothers Sarabjit and Bhupinder Singh-who were keener to meet us in their Tolstoy Marg office than the Janpath one-Travelite is on-line tourism's hardboiled layer. Four sites -ktcindia.com, pride-of-india.com, tajmahalindia.com, and traveliteindia.com -generate 40 car rental bookings per month. That's around Rs 3-5 lakh in revenues per month. And 30-40 on-line bookings for packages, which translates into revenues of Rs 25 lakh. "In the next two years, the internet will contribute to more than 50 per cent of our business," says a quick-on-the-draw Sarabjit Singh. Contrary to the slew of travel dotcom launches, the Singh Brothers started early and have kept a low profile. Focused on packaged tours, traveliteindia.com was launched three-and-a-half years back. Subsequently, every year witnessed the quiet launch of a new site. "They believe in soft launches and in web promotions like search engines," says Rahul Mitra, COO, InfoAlliance, which has developed the websites. In all, the brothers have invested Rs 15-20 lakh in developing the sites. Unlike other travel portals that bank heavily on content, Travelite's sites get down to business immediately, showcasing the various tours, packages, and car rentals. "They are hard-core businessmen and believe in having a shop model," says Mitra. The approach applies to payments too: one can book on-line, but the payment has to be off-line. Payment gateways will be soon be up and running. The brothers claim they are also in the process of tying up with "leading travel portals in Europe and US". While the rough-n-tumble approach is
yielding results, can Travelite's four sites be more than just interactive
brochures? Particularly in a space that is witnessing the most action,
fuelled by huge investments. Warns Randhir Kochhar, Senior Manager
(Corporate Finance), Arthur Andersen: "Players in the on-line travel
need a strong business model and huge investments in technology and
marketing. The marginal players will make little headway." Try
telling that to the Singh Bros, busy planning a relaunch of the sites by
January, 2001. The strategy hinges on tajmahalindia.com becoming a
full-fledged travel portal. Now, don't put it past them: not many CEOs of
travel firms have managed to get themselves photographed with the
Clintons! |
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It's easy
to slot Karachi Taxi Co into a yellow-and-black adventure on the internet.
Catch the trappings: a 50-plus, pre-partition taxi company that speaks
with a Punjabi accent, has ferried the late Princess Diana and the
Clintons, and whose offices include a hole in the wall in Delhi's Janpath.
Sample this excerpt from parent company Travelite India's website:
"Penning down the credentials of a leading tour operator company like
ours is like turning the arch lights (sic) on yourself and therein lies
the challenge of presenting a case without an iota of self-praise."
For the record, Travelite serves up car rentals, travel packages, and
hotel reservations.