Tarique Khatri, VP, business development, Cleartrip

Q: What are you offering the Middle East traveller?
A: We have a lot of low-cost content which is relevant to the Middle East market, so what we have brought to the table is far more comprehensive than what was available out there.

We have also started adding more localised content — for example the low cost carriers such as Jazeera, Air Arabia — and we are currently in the process of integrating FlyDubai and Bahrain Air, which will make our site the most comprehensive when it comes to air content in this market.

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Q: What’s been the biggest challenge when it came to launching Cleartrip in the Middle East?
A: The biggest challenge was that we were a new brand. And being a pretty nascent online market, we had to get a lot of people to know about us. The second thing is to build trust with the customer because as a new brand you always have this apprehension — will my ticket come through? Will they they take the money and run away?

What we tried to say is, here is a completely transparent company where you can see the best fares available. Plus we have a lot of links on our site which take customers to various forums where you can actually see real customer queries being handled. So that gave people the trust that yes, we are serious. Customers’ needs are a priority for us.

Q: How is business going so so far?
A: More and more people are using it. There is a lot of word of mouth that is spreading. Our traffic is gradually growing via indirect traffic that comes via the various websites that we advertise on, Google marketing and brand adverts that we do.

But now what we see is that direct traffic is coming through gradually too. Today almost 25% of traffic onto the site is direct which means that people are seeing the brand as reliable, as a place for them to come and search and buy their travel products.

Q: What plans do you have for Cleartrip the region?
A: Very soon we will be launching our mobile product in the Middle East which will allow customers to search and book from their mobile phones. We also have other products in India which we would like to introduce to this market very soon, including a ‘theatre for business’ for the corporates so they can manage their bookings online. We also have a travel agency product.

Q: Who is using the site to book?
A: The interesting thing we have found is there is a mix of people booking. Initially we had a lot of Indian people booking with us because they had brand association. But now we’ve seen a lot of locals booking, we have seen a lot of people from the Philippines. That is our aim. We do not want to position ourselves as an Indian brand in the Middle East, we want to be an independent brand, offering a great platform and efficient way of making travel bookings.