Sahara forays into the luxury holiday business

New Delhi: The upwardly mobile now have another holiday option. The Sahara India Pariwar has announced its entry into the Rs65,000 crore luxury holiday business, and is planning for revenue targets of Rs100 crore within the next three years.

Branded as Paradiso, the company will provide high-end customised luxury holidays, which will fall into the price band of Rs14,400 to Rs18,40,000 per night.

Paradiso CEO Romi Datta is optimistic of achieving revenue targets of Rs100 crore within the coming three years. He said that the company has tie-ups with 165 luxury properties across, Italy, France, Scotland, Ireland and the UK.

The domestic travel market is pegged at $450 million, and is estimated to grow at 20 per cent. It is expected to tally around 80 lakh outbound travellers by 2008.

According to the company, of the eight million "rich" Indians who fall into the target income segment of Rs30-40 lakh per annum, only about one million are supposed to have spent on luxury travel in 2006.

The company estimates that this would triple in the coming three years, for which Paradiso will need a focussed approach to address the needs of brand conscious Indians.

The company''s marketing strategy covers partnerships and tie-ups with wealth management by the banks, one-on-one relationship management with its target customer segment, along with high-end advertisements. The company would initially operate the travel business from Delhi and Mumbai, and expand its base to cover Bangalore and Chennai in about six months.