The online travel industry, which is growing at 35% per annum, is seeing a lot of action with not just home-grown portals vying with each other, but even big foreign players eyeing a share of the pie. Global biggie Expedia, which registered a whopping 31 million customers last year, formed a joint venture company with Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia in September 2011 for the Asian market. This JV company, too, is spreading its wings in India?s cluttered travel market. Dan Lynn, CEO, AirAsia Expedia, talks to FE?s Vishakha Talreja about doubling its marketing spend in India, tying up with a third-party company for visa assistance and the tie-up with portal redBus. Excerpts:

There are so many portals vying for a share of the online travel market. What are you doing to get more travellers book on your site?

Though we launched in 2008, we started spending in India market only last year. This calendar year we will double our marketing spend to R60 crore from R25 crore we spent in 2011. We will also offer visa assistance to our customers, for which we have tied up with a third-party company. India is the first market where we are doing something of this sort to facilitate visa process for our customers. Online players don?t really do that. We have also tied up with bus portal redBus, so that consumers can book their services online as that is still a preferred mode of transport in tier-II and tier-III cities. Last year, our goal was to make it to the list of top 10 travel portals in India. And we did make it to number sixth. So we are definitely garnering more share.

How will the JV with AirAsia help when they have withdrawn flights from key metros in India?

Through the AirAsia JV we can offer very cheap deals to our customers. On Expedia, for customers booking from Delhi or Mumbai, domestic flights can be booked to other points for international travel. Plus, AirAsia has a very wide network in Asia Pacific and provides point-to-point service in countries like Thailand and Malaysia. But our offering goes beyond AirAsia. We have tie ups with around 438 airlines globally and we are banking on that.

In Asia Pacific which is the key market for AirAsia Expedia?

India. Yes, in Asia Pacific India is the fastest growing market for us. In Japan, we are at a very mature stage, but that continues to be our strong market. Though we have recently launched in Thailand and Singapore also, but those markets are still very small for us.

How do you see competition from home-grown companies?

Well we don?t focus on that too much. We are expanding in India and get a lot of repeat customers. People are sticking to our website. I think in India and in the online segment, too, many players are trying to pull big business by cutting corners. They want to do big business, but not the right business. For instance, an Indian travel portal says that they don?t charge any cancellation fees, but when you actually book and cancel, the entire amount is not credited back.

Travel portals in India have been on an acquisition spree. Are you also looking at acquiring an Indian player for a stronger presence?

Well, our motto at Expedia is to keep it simple. You lose simplicity if you start acquiring companies, and in order to integrate the operations you end up becoming slow. But, yes, if there is an interesting IT travel solutions company in India, then I will definitely suggest to buy. For instance, if there is a technology that can scan boarding passes and give the information on passengers? mobile phone, we will definitely lap it.

Are corporate travellers booking online, too?

Around 30% of our business comes from corporate travellers. With someone booking online it?s difficult to say whether that person made a booking for leisure or business trip. But we are definitely seeing many corporate travellers booking online as we offer them deals and dynamic pricing rather than once-a-year negotiated prices. We offer corporate travel solutions on our website Egencia, which has all the necessary office tools. We are witnessing a growing client base for Egencia in India.