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Yatra Acquires Travelguru TMCnet Contributor Yatra.com, a travel company in India signed an agreement to acquire a hundred percent stake in Travelguru, a hotel distribution network from Travelocity Global offering access to more than 6500 hotels in India and 72,000 hotels worldwide.
Yatra.com is of the opinion that this acquisition of Travelguru will strengthen its position as the leading company in the Indian online travel space and substantially help the company extend its position as the premiere aggregator and seller of domestic hotels and holidays in India. The deal is believed to further add to its already strong offerings for flights and outbound holidays.
The company statement also emphasized that Travelguru will continue to operate as a separate entity under its existing brand name. 'We seeded and launched Yatra.com six years back and are immensely proud of the company's successful growth and execution. We believe that this acquisition will significantly broaden and diversify Yatra's business and marks an important milestone for the future,' Promod Haque, managing partner, Norwest Venture Partners and chairman of Yatra.com, said in a press release.
Travelguru has been focusing till date on growing Indian hotel demand, Indian hotel supply and a wide distribution network, facilitating a broad range of travel options and recommendations for domestic as well as international travelers.
Based in Gurgaon, India, Yatra is a Norwest Venture Partners & Intel Capital (News - Alert) Portfolio Company serving as a one-stop-shop for all travel-related services. Launched in August 2006, Yatra has emerged as the most trusted travel brand in India.
Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and chief executive officer at Yatra.com said that this acquisition will significantly strengthen the company's domestic hotels and holidays business and reinforces its growth strategy and long term commitment and belief in the Indian online travel industry.
Shringi also believes that this will not only increase the company's customer base, but it also widens its product portfolio and leverages its ability to bundle solutions, offering better deals and value propositions to its customers.
"The acquisition will also provide Travelguru's hotel partners with a much wider distribution network through Yatra.com and its B2B network of 10,000+ agents," Shringi added.
Previously, Yatra.com acquired ticket consolidator Travel Services International Pvt. Ltd to strengthen its foray into the B2B consolidation space. In July 2011, Yatra.com acquired hotel aggregation company, MagicRooms, offering access to a live inventory of over 3,000 hotels across India. In January, 2012, premier event and entertainment promotion portal Buzzintown was acquired by Yatra.com expanding Yatra's portfolio and giving consumers the access to service beyond travel.
Travel and tourism is the largest service sector business in India, contributing nearly six percent to the national GDP, and representing nearly eight percent of the total country's employment. Click here to read on the emerging opportunities and growth prospects in the Indian Travel Intermediaries Industry: Analyses and Forecasts to 2016.
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Edited by Rich Steeves |