siliconindia | | October 20184About two decades ago, a typical Indian traveler would visit travel destinations and the only source for a travel planning were references given by friends, families, acquaintances, travel magazine or the local travel agents. However, over the past decade, the advent of internet and the need for personalization and convenience has significantly changed the way how tourists operate. With majority of travel planning and booking now taking place online, there has been a sharp rise in the growth of tourists across the country. From 1997 to 2016, the numbers of domestic tourist visits have grown by 10 times -- from close to 160 million to 1,614 million, as per Market Research and Statistics by Ministry of Tourism. The statistics further reveal that foreign tourist arrivals also grew 5.5 million in 1997 to nearly 25 million in 2016. According to a report by Praxis Global, `The online travel market in India, led by flight and hotel aggregators, is expected to touch $13.6 billion by 2021 and will account for almost 43% of the total travel category in the country, management consulting firm'.With Indians evolving to be amongst the most digitally-savvy travellers, a large number of the travellers use smartphones for research and booking while 82 percent of the individuals appreciate digital boarding passes and e-tickets. The travel industry is increasingly innovating on its backend and customer-facing platforms through adoption of new technologies. From itinerary-building support to reservations and customer support, platforms are anticipating travel needs and resolving issues in real-time. In the process, the traveler is becoming more empowered and travel brands are aspiring to become experience platforms. Thus, in this edition of siliconindia magazine we have featured a list of `20 Most Promising Travel Booking Service Providers ­ 2018'. This carefully crafted list comprises of companies which are setting a bench mark with their unique travel booking platforms. Under this list we have also illustrated the success stories of companies which are going an extra mile to cater top of the range itineraries to meet the desires of tourists. Hope the list helps you in your future endeavors and we achieve our mission.Your ideas are always welcome!Deepshikha SinghSpecial Editoreditor@siliconindia.comEditorialIndian Travellers are Increasingly Seeking Convenience while Progressively Exploring the Unexplored siliconindia Vol 07 · Issue 4 - 1 · October, 2018 Publisher Alok Chaturvedi Managing Editor Anamika Sahu Special Editor Deepshikha Singh Editorial Team Lesly Joseph Susma Kerketta Imelda Tarzarina Karthik Muralidhar Krupa P. Dave Shefali Mathur Sophia Rohtagi Srrayvinya OLM Sujith Vasudevan Sushruth R VP - Sales & Marketing Virupakshi Pattar Advertising Managers Editorial queries editor@siliconindia.com To subscribe Visit https://www.siliconindiamagazine.com/subscribe/ or send email to subscription@siliconindia.com Cover price is Rs.150 per issue. Printed and Published By Alok Chaturvedi on behalf of SiliconMedia Technologies Pvt Ltd and Printed at Precision Fototype Services at Sri Sabari Shopping Complex, 24 Residency Road Bangalore-560025 and Published At No. 124, 2nd Floor, Surya Chambers, Old Airport Road, Murugeshpalya, Bangalore-560017. Editor Alok ChaturvediCopyright © 2018 SiliconMedia Technologies Pvt Ltd, All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher.advertise@siliconindia.comVisualisers Veena R Piddannavar S Sivasankar Suanya Group Art DirectorAshok KumarNoidaAshu Sethi Garima AnandCirculation Manager Magendran Perumal Ashwini D Naik Nicky Kumari Rohit Kumar Sambit Satpathy Susnigdha Bhowmik Tapas Ranjan Mallick
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