Indian Online Hotel Industry to be Worth USD 1.8 Billion by 2016: Report

By BW Hotelier ACCORDING TO the findings of the research conducted by ICRA Research Services on ’Online Travel Agents: Boon or bane’? an estimated 8.4 million Indians likely to book hotels online by 2016 up from 3.5 million in 2014. The hotel bookings is one of the least penetrated segment within the travel categories in India; the Indian online hotel industry to be USD 1.8 billion by 2016 from the current USD 0.8 billion; Online bookings account for 16 per cent of the hotel booking currently and are expected to grow to 25 per cent by 2016.; in the absence of Online Travel Agents (OTAs) as a marketing tool, to maintain the same GOP of 22.0-22.5 per cent, transient occupancy has to increase from 45.6-51.2 per cent at 25 per cent higher rates were some of the key findings of the report. The report highlights the emergence of OTAs in India: Internet and mobile penetration on the way up; increasingly competitive online space; various models available; key differences in experience between OTAs and hotel websites; impact of OTAs on profit margins of a hotel and evolution of online travel related services. Feature-Hotels Online travel agents