Welcome to the 4th annual TDS India event
The Travel Distribution Summit India is the world's only travel event which explores the unique challenges and opportunities that the dynamic realm of India online travel presents.
- Loading latest India travel news...
- Debate the future of Indian travel sales and distribution
- Discover the modern Indian consumer's changing preferences
- Meet global leaders of travel sales, pricing, technology & distribution
- Benchmark your business, expand your knowledge and be inspired
Past year's have seen the established and emerging leaders of the Indian travel space converge, to lend practical strategies and advice with the goal of moving the industry forward as one. The events reputation has been built around honest presentations and discussion that delve into the very core of online travel in India, and is a no holds barred forum for building business success in the Indian market.
As Indian consumer behaviour evolves, so to do the sales strategies and technologies that make up this complicated travel landscape. TDS India is the essential platform for Indian companies to meet for an annual update, or for international companies to meet local partners and develop a better understanding of what makes this distinct market function.
Attendee list (updated 10.9.09)
- Rishi Uberoi, General Manager, 1-Globe
- Pieter De Man, General Manager South Asia, Air France - KLM
- Sebastien Guyot, Commercial Director, Air France - KLM
- Marnix Fruitema, SVP Asia Pacific, Air France KLM
- Rishikant Singh, AGM - Revenue Management, Air India
- Tristan Nielson, Global Account Manager, Amadeus Asia
- Tristan Nielson, Global Account Manager, Amadeus Asia
- Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director, Amadeus India Pvt Ltd.
- Vishwas Patel, CEO, Avenues India Pvt Ltd
- Vishwas Patel, CEO, Avenues India Pvt Ltd
- Rony Abraham, AGM Corporate Strategy and Alliances, Bird Group
- Rony Abraham, AGM Corporate Strategy and Alliances, Bird Group
- Swati Bhatia, Head Product Management, Products & Solution, Bird Group
- Mohammad Mujtaba, Head eCommerce, Bird Group
- Avijit Arya, Director, Capital City Travels
- Sakshi Vij, Marketing Head, Carzonrent India Pvt. Ltd.
- Raymond Leung, eBusiness Sales & Distribution Manager, Cathay Pacific Airways
- Kapil Kaul, CEO India Subcontinent, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation
- Noel Swain, Vice President of Marketing, Cleartrip Travel Services
- Mumtaz Moiz, General Manager - India, Club Med Services India
- Rafi Ahmed Mulla, Head of E-Commerce, Dnata Travel Services
- Gaurav Sundaram, Country Director - India, Egencia
- Yogesh Rathi, CEO, EtoursCRS
- Yogesh Rathi, CEO, EtoursCRS
- Jitendra Sawant, General Manager - e-Commerce, EtoursCRS
- Mukesh Saxena, Vice President - Inbound, EtoursCRS
- Abinash Manghani, Head Sales & Marketing, Fortune Park Hotels
- Kishore Mardikar, Head of Sales & Marketing, Ginger Hotels
- Prabhat Pani, CEO, Ginger Hotels
- Gerald Gan, Business Development Manager, GlobalCollect
- Gauri Jayaram, Regional Director, Globus Family of Brands
- Narasimha Jayakumar, Business Head, Google India, Google
- Savio Barretto, Marketing Manager, Google India
- Varun Sharma, Account Strategist, Google India, Google India Pvt Ltd
- Manan Singhi, Account Manager, Google India, Google Online India Pvt. Ltd.
- Sony Paul, , Green GlobeTourism Pvt Ltd
- Shaswat Chamaria, Head - Vertical Head - Commercial Cards, HDFC Bank
- Uday Suvarna, Head - Product Development & Business Development, HDFC Bank
- Sachin Pabreja, COO, Hospitality Solutions
- Amit Khurana, Regional Manager - SubContinent Sales, IDeaS Revenue Optimization - A SAS COMPANY
- Saurabh Jha, Manager, IFMR Trust
- Karmveer Rathore, Manager, IFMR Trust
- Reoferron Martin, Marketing Manager, International Business Travellers Club
- Mohit Bhatnagar, Product & Sales Manager, Intrepid Tours & Travel Pvt Ltd
- Jeff Hoh, General Manager, Intrepid Tours & Travel Pvt Ltd
- David Peller, Regional Vice President EMEA & India, ITA Software
- Aloke Bajpai, CEO, iXiGO.com
- Varun Chadha, Chief Operating Officer, Journeymart.com
- Sanjeev Lalwani, Vice President, Kale Consultants Limited
- Kashmira Commissariat, COO Outbound, Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd
- Yaseen Effendi, General Manager, Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd
- Lionel Jayasinghe, Chairman/MD, Lankavision(pvt)Ltd
- Vimla Dorairaju, Business Head, Mahindra Homestays, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India
- Japa Ghosh, Head of Marketing- Mahindra Homestays, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India
- Arun Khanna, National Head of Business Development, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India
- Deep Kalra, Founder & CEO, Makemytrip.com
- Rajnish Kapur, Chief Innovation Officer, makemytrip.com
- Amit Saberwal, VP Retail & Business Development, Makemytrip.com
- Kriti Budhia, eCommerce Manager, Marriott Hotels India
- Navin Jain, AVP & Account Head, MasterCard Worldwide
- Raman Mohan, CEO, Media Matters
- Thomas Weber, General Manager, Moevenpick Hotel & Spa Bangalore
- George Saunders, Region CEO Singapre & South Asia, Mondial Assistance India
- Rajesh Sethi, CEO, Mondial Assistance India
- Amal Purandare, Head - India Operations, Navin Mail Services (I) Pvt Ltd
- Disha Chawla, Marketing Executive, NIIT Technologies
- Disha Chawla, Marketing Executive, NIIT Technologies
- Rahul Rajpoot, Business Analyst, NIIT Technologies
- Narayanan Kallapiran, Global Head - Travel Transportation & Logistics Vertical, NIIT Technologies Ltd
- Ankit Saxena, Business Development Manager - Travel Transportation & Logistics, NIIT Technologies Ltd
- Sharad Tibdewal, Sales Head - Travel Transportation & Logistics Business, Indian, NIIT Technologies Ltd
- Rajaraman Venkataramani, BU Head - Indian Sub-continent, NIIT Technologies Ltd
- Pritpal Saini, CEO, Noble Travels
- Vasudha Sondhi, Managing Director, Outbound Marketing Pvt Ltd
- Sandeep Khetarpal, Assistant Vice President, Paul Merchants Limited
- Saurabh Bhatnagar, Regional Director - India, Preferred Hotel Group
- Brij Chachra, Director, Revenue Account Management - India, M.E & Africa, Preferred Hotel Group
- Glenn Fogel, EVP Corporate Development, Priceline
- Prasenjit Guha Thakurta, Corporate Revenue Manager, Pride Hotels
- Peter Baxendale, Head of Sales, ReD Europe
- Mark Goldspink, Managing Director, ReD Merchant Services
- Phanindra Sama, CEO, Redbus
- Girish Shah, Head of Branding, Reliance ADA Group
- Peter Baxendale, Head Of Sales, Retail Decisions
- Kishore Pallamreddy, MD, India Operations, Sabre Holdings
- Shailendra Kesari, Editor & Publisher, Safari Plus
- David Urmann, CEO, Salt Lake SMS India Pvt. Ltd.
- Lorraine Rodrigues, Feature's Writer, Selling World Travel
- Parineeta Sethi, Chief Editor, Selling World Travel
- Vikas Gulati, Vice President - Marketing & Business Development, APAC, Sprice
- Vikas Gulati, Vice President - Marketing & Business Development, APAC, Sprice
- Dhiraj Poddar, Director, Standard Chartered
- Tushar Sinha, Associate Director, Standard Chartered
- Devdutta Banerjee, Regional Director - Revenue Management, India Bangladesh and Nep, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
- Isha Goyal, Director, Stic Travels
- Patrick Andres, Managing Director, SynXis Asia-Pacific
- Puneet Mahindroo, Corporate Director of Revenue Management & Global Distribution, Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces
- Tarandeep Singh, Principal Consultant, Technopak Advisors Pvt Ltd
- Magdelene Low, Regional Director, Asia, The Leading Hotels of the World ltd
- Nessen Paul, Asst Manager - Web Business Development, The Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts
- Dipti Chaudhary, eMarketing Executive, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts
- Tarun Lakhanpal, Group Manager - Distribution and Revenue Management, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company
- Rajji Rai, President, Travel Agents Association of India
- Charmaine Fernz, Assistant Editor, TravelBiz Monitor
- Shaun Dubash, VP Business Development, TravelGuru
- Manoj Gursahani, Chairman, Travelmartindia.com
- Abdul Thingna, Regional Manager - Hotels, Travelocity
- Siddhartha Singh, Marketing Manager, India, Travelocity India
- Devendra Parekh, Managing Director, Travels & Rentals
- Sharat Dhall, Managing Director - India, TripAdvisor
- Srinath Devireddy, President, TRX Asia, Trx Technologies India
- Ratnesh Jaiswal, General Manager - Operations, Trx Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
- Frank Tietjen, Head of Corporate Strategy, TUI AG
- Alok Sawhney, CEO, UNIGLOBE Mod Travel
- Rajiv Menon, Director, Business Development, Verchaska Infotech (P) ltd.
- Greg Spicer, Managing Director, Xn Hotel Systems (India)
- Sanjay Verma, Country Sales Manager, Xn Hotel Systems (India)
- Sabina Chopra, Co-Founder, Yatra Online
- Dhruv Shringi, Founder & Executive Director, Yatra Online
OTHER INDIAN NEWS...
One OTA acquired, where are others headed in India?
Consolidation has finally happened in the OTA market in India. Home-grown online travel company Travelguru has been acquired by Travelocity Global.
Over the last year and a half or so, the OTAs have been curbing their expenditure and looking at several ways of bringing down costs via downsizing, closure of retail shops and controlling marketing costs. OTAs realised that controlling costs would be critical to shorten the gestation period.
At this stage, after rather a subdued phase, at whatever valuation the Travelocity-Travelguru deal might have taken place, an industry veteran like priceline’s executive vice president - corporate development Glenn D. Fogel is sure that “the founders and investors in Travelguru had hoped (when they started the company) to get a much bigger return than they are getting (now).” Read More
Cutting commission does not mean less revenue for agents
Airlines have been negotiating and re-working on their distribution strategies to optimise reach offered by indirect channels. If indirect channels can deliver higher margin business and save travel suppliers from the burden of high fixed costs vis-a-vis direct channels, then it would be hard for airlines to ignore this proposition.
At the same time, airlines maintain that service fees is not only a way to compensate for the loss of commissions but also generate new revenue streams. And airlines like Air France KLM have been trying to assert this in more and more markets including India.
In order to assess the relationship between airlines and traditional intermediaries in India, EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta spoke to Marnix Fruitema, SVP Asia Pacific, Air France KLM. Read More
Bid2travel prices are 30-50% cheaper than reputed online travel sites
Noble Travels Group, which had launched an online bidding site Bid2Travel.com in April this year, believes the timing of its latest offering is an appropriate one. Pritpal S. Saini, founder and director of Bid2Travel.com, says this is the perfect time for the launch considering that the travel industry is “transiting through the recessionary period”.
“Everyone is searching and exploring for the new revenue channels and Bid2travel.com delivers the classic win-win situation....more satisfied guests and higher occupancy. We considered various factors before finalising this unique concept and the most important was to make a travel bidding site where nothing is mysterious or hidden from the travellers. Secondly, provide an online platform where customers and hotel owners interact directly with each other,” says Saini, who is scheduled to speak at EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit India 2009 to be held in Mumbai (October 6 -7) this year.
Saini, in an interview with EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta, spoke about plans for his new venture. Read More
