300 OTAs by 2010 - That probably means we need newcomers like http://www.ixigo.com who can help unwary travelers find the best deal in a superfast fashion.

They launched yesterday and it looks very promising to me - especially with the price transparency of showing all prices with taxes.

Sandhya - the 300 OTA’s by 2010 was a joke. But sure, feel free to use this opportunity to promote the portal in the comments. :)

Ticketing-Hotel Booking- Holiday Packages-Loan Financing   seems to be the New mantra . just like what Portal -Search-E Mail -Chat-news was in dot com boom . Now this is a clear case of herd mentality among investors.

Look at it like this,  Right now if you are traveling bitween 5-6 major cities of India and you plan sufficiently in Advance [ say diwali vacation ]  than the difference of fare bitween Second AC and Airline is very little [in some cases Airfare is cheaper]
but if only 25% These of travelers decide to move to Airlines . we need to do at least 50% increase in our Airport Infrastructure .  and here i am talking about 5-6 major cities only ,not all routes where there is an Airport at the Destination and train on that route has AC compartment . you can imagine that the Value offered by these OTA are a function of some secondary variable [namely Airport Infrastructure ] on which they have no control . so the point is that market size and growth of these portal are not as big as it is portrayed to be . only thing working in there favor is the fact that they have a proven and tested revenue model . 
these sites might be profitable but i seriously don’t see a good exit option or 10X ROI here . may be VC’s know something about this business which i as a frequent flier don’t know .

Good luck for FlightRaja and TavelChaha and make my clear trip .  you guys are “in” demand . i wish AAI do something about infrastructure before it hinders your growth

Is this official confirmation that Sahad is finally out of Contentsutra?

The ongoing growth of online travel players in the Indian market is interesting. The pressure on ticketing margins will increase no doubt. I wonder what will be the other effects? Like what will be the role of the offline Travel Agent? I hear people are getting hurt already.
Do people feel the need of having someone who could lead them thru a sale or for that matter to help them plan their trip?

In a perfect environment , in a world when meta search engines are doing well , what will happen to the margins of OTA?? Especially when the question is about CPA for a hotel or airline, irrespective of where they can get it from.
It is going to be very interesting for sure.

And as per an exuberant estimate, there will be three travel metasearch sites for every online travel agency by the year 2008.

Ixigo, Yahoo! FareChase India, Zoomtra, Mobissimo and growing. I guess we’ll need a meta-metasearch to help search the 930 travel search sites by 2010.

Nikhil I think its high time you start doing a comment moderation at CS . people are hell bent to hijack this place for promotion

Prashant, chill out, promotion is good, especially if you are on a budget :)

Anyways, You dont need a meta-search for best deal,

You need a WEBSITE with GOOD COVERAGE and CHEAPEST PRICES.

We provide that for Jammu & Kashmir.

Have a look!!!