The travel and tourism industry in India is regarded as the largest service industry in India that churns out a contribution of 6.23% to the national GDP and 8.78% of the total employment in India. The growth of the industry is also expected to be burgeoning as India is considered as a major global destination. Bearing this in mind, Expedia has gone ahead and launched the Travel Agent Affiliate Program (TAAP) in India along with Discover The World which would act as a Sales and Support Partner. This launch is pursued, post examining the success of the affiliation program in Europe, the Pacific and North America.
Teaming up with Discover The World, Expedia intends to effectively utilize Discover’s healthy customer service and support culture. Also, Discover has a strong hold on international markets with great representation experience depicting the company’s ability to comprehend a particular country’s culture and operate accordingly. The sales and support partner (Discover) would be responsible for the day to day operation of the program including first level agent support and marketing. Their partnership operates in Europe and the Pacific where similar strategies are practised, while Discover runs the TAAP in France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. Based on the success of the program this business relationship could well expand to other major geographical areas.
Travel agents who yearn to gain access to this program need not necessarily own an online travel website. All that the agent has to do is log on to the Expedia site and sign up as an affiliate by way of filling out a simple application form online. Once this is done, the agent would then be endowed with a huge database entailing a large inventory of air, hotel, tailor-made packages, car hire and activities bookings. To exemplify, Expedia comprises databases that count up to 100,000 hotels. This would facilitate the agents to ascertain the best possible products for their consumers. Along with this, agents also enjoy the benefit of selling these travel products at reasonable prices empowering them to effectively compete with online travel agencies.
The Real Picture – It now becomes essential for us to mull over the fact as to how many agents would go ahead and form affiliations with this program. Travel agents most often possess apprehensions towards changing their customary database and start looking out for new inventory elsewhere (Expedia – as in this case), and fear the loss of the existing inventory. There is also the doubt on the willingness of Travel Agents to sign up and earn commissions through Expedia, whereas they can make higher profits offline through their own existing database. Besides, when there is a consumer need for a travel package that includes combined voyages in train, bus and planes it becomes difficult for the travel agents to find the best package at reasonable prices online. To drive away these minute doubts and minuscule fears of agents, both Expedia and Discover need to act and work towards building a trustworthy relationship with each travel agent that signs up.
