US-based online travel company Expedia named Sharat Dhall as head of its yet to be launched India operations, AlooTechie.com reports. Dhall was formerly the vice president of eCommerce at Indiatimes.com. There has been a phenomenal growth in the Indian online travel market, from $295 million in 2005 to $796 million in 2006 (a growth of 176 per cent). This is further set to go up to $1,325 million in 2007 and $2,004 million in 2008. Agencyfaqs adds that Dhall has also worked for HLL (now HUL) as business head of its rural venture, Project Shakti.
Earlier reports suggested that the company was setting up a team to handle alliances with hotels, airlines and car rental companies, besides other ground work. The travel portal had plans to first focus on launching its hotel content in India, followed by airlines and car rentals. Hotel rooms fetch better margins and more and more travel portals in India are focusing on this area to boost revenues. With competition hotting among travel portals, my guess is that we will begin to see some consolidation in this space.