Expedia enters India - Brings the World to Indian Travellers

Mumbai: World's leading online travel company Expedia, Inc. has announced its entry into India, with the launch of Expedia.co.in.

The online travel booking site has been designed specifically for Indian travellers, and offers the best in hotels and travel destinations worldwide, along with fully localised services and an in-country customer care centre staffed with dedicated agents who speak both Hindi and English.

Expedia, Inc. is a global online travel company, that caters to business and leisure travellers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents and in-destination concierge service and activity desks for travellers.

The Expedia, Inc. portfolio of brands includes Expedia.com, hotels.com, Hotwire, Expedia Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong.

Expedia, Inc.'s companies operate more than 50 global points of sale with sites in North America, South America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

''Indian online travel market is estimated to be worth over $2 billion for 2007-08, and is growing rapidly. The number of Indians travelling abroad is growing. For Indian travellers who prefer to holiday in exotic locations overseas, Expedia is the ideal place to book travel, as we are an international travel expert with global product range, competitive prices, and in-depth travel and destination information,'' said Sharat Dhall, managing director of Expedia.co.in.

''Expedia is the global leader in online travel, operating in 17 countries, and last year alone, we helped more than 26 million people find a room for the night and put more than 22 million travellers on airplanes. We are very excited to help Indian travellers research, plan and book their perfect holiday.''

Founded over 10 years ago, Expedia pioneered the online travel industry, extending the Expedia brand to 17 countries around the world, and becoming the global leader in online travel. Among is employee base, Expedia has hundreds of staff throughout the world who work directly with hotels and other supply partners in local markets to secure Expedia's unmatched selection of travel options.

"The launch of Expedia India provides us an additional foothold as we continue to invest aggressively in Asia to match the enormous scale and potential of the region,'' said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Expedia, Inc.

''Our goal is to grow our international revenue to half of our total revenue, and burgeoning travel markets like India are key to achieving that goal.''

Expedia's customers in India will have access to nearly 80,000 hotels across the globe and covering a wide price range.

A unique offering by Expedia is the 'Attractions' section, with a choice of more than 3,000 in-destination activities and attractions around the world.

On Expedia, travellers can plan how to spend their time during their holidays even before departing on their trip. Expedia.co.in offers tickets to events, attractions, sightseeing tours, theme parks, spas, restaurants, culinary experiences, and unique experiences such as diving with sharks in Australia or going quad biking in Dubai.

''Expedia.co.in will help Indian travellers plan fun-filled summer holidays to their favourite international destinations this year,'' said Dhall.

Unlike most online travel agencies that offer only planned packages, Expedia India provides choices customized to the preferences of the Indian customer. The website allows payment in Indian rupees and delivers travel deals that offer value to the Indian customer.

Prices are quoted upfront and include all taxes and supplier surcharges, so customers are easily able to understand the total cost of their travel, without any hidden charges. Expedia also delivers cutting edge technology and user interface.

According to Expedia, Indian travellers will also benefit from a variety of innovative tools on Expedia.co.in, such as 360-degree virtual tours of rooms and facilities in popular hotels worldwide, with over 280,000 traveller reviews of hotels throughout the world.