| Online travel & e-ticketing boom in India
The online travel sector may comprise a mere 2.2 per cent of the domestic travel market, but it is set to grow from $796 million in 2006 to around $2 billion by 2008, according to a recent report by PhoCusWright. The online travel industry grew at 126 per cent from a base of $295 million in 2005 to $796 in 2006. In 2007, it is expected to record a 66 per cent growth to be a $1,325 million industry and by 2008, it will grow at 51 per cent to be a $2,004 million (around $2 billion) industry, reasons the report. The figures in the adjoining tables (a little over $600 million) suggest the PhoCusWright figures are on the higher side, though. Despite this, online travel portals already appear to have picked up the growth cue. For instance, Rediff.com recently launched faresearch.rediff.com, a tool that searches for the lowest airfare across all travel, airline and auction web sites, thus marking its entry in this fast-growing space.
Leno to laugh it up as gala's headliner
Jay Leno will headline the 2007 Collin County Children's Advocacy Center gala with a full hour of stand-up comedy April 21 at Frisco's Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center. At a preview party last week at Roy's, gala co-chairs Ronelle Ianace and Craig Perry persuaded an impressive array of potential sponsors to be charter members of their $1 million fundraising goal. Sponsors above the $15,000 level will meet and be photographed with the Tonight Show host at a reception before the gala. The $25,000 sponsors will have additional benefits, the $50,000 level will have even more, and for $100,000, you get to brand the evening with your name as title sponsor. One of the auction items will be four Tonight Show tickets with backstage passes that could be packaged with airfare if someone – and you know who you are – steps up with the use of a corporate jet.
Forbes.com Unveils High-end Travel Site
For those tired of the riff raff loitering outside Yahoo Travel and Lonely Planet, Forbes.com has launched a new luxury travel guide and planning destination. The second of the business publisher's offshoot sites, the travel guide has lured American Airlines, SkyAuction.com and Coldwell Banker as its first advertisers. In addition to articles, advice and reviews from Mobil and Frommer's, the swanky site features airfare and lodging searches powered by SideStep, which unveiled a syndication platform earlier this week with ForbesTraveler.com as its first partner. "We're really making full use of the Forbes brand width," said Forbes.com President and CEO James Spanfeller. Travel, like Forbes.com's auto site affiliate ForbesAutos.com, "also very much relates to affluent lifestyle," he continued.
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