New Delhi, 10 April 2001…. Three Indians, Gautam Chadha, Gurjit Singh Ahuja and Anita Vasudeva are thinking global in a big way with the unique concept of a Travel Internet on the Net – JourneyMart.com. The site is being developed as a global travel mall and aims to be the first and single point of search for the global traveller. 

JourneyMart.com announces Quarterly Travel Poll
Travel Trends Today, December 2004

www.JourneyMart.com has released its Travel Poll results that reflect the ongoing travel trends today. Called Journey Watch - Autumn 2004, this poll was hosted on www.journeymart.com recently and presented first-hand views and preferences of consumers on several travel-related topics.

According to the survey, online travel purchase is getting popular in India. People are now willing to pay by credit card for travel bookings provided the website is secure. Many of them don't mind paying a premium for the handling or home delivery of railway tickets, and the Indian traveler today seems to prefer to travel by air, encouraged by low airfares like apex fares.

Some of the other interesting trends are the emergence of village tourism, availing medical insurance before setting off and willingness to pay extra for flight insurance.

‘Domestic travelers willing to spend more on comforts’
The Hindu Business Line, November 14 2004

Domestic travelers in the country have come of age. With better product and service offerings, they are willing to try new experiences and spend more on comfort and convenience.

According to Journey Watch - Autumn 2004, a survey by JourneyMart.com, over 80 percent of the 1,123 respondents said that they prefer the comfortable "Shatabdi" like trains to traveling by road. But improvement in the road network has resulted in more people taking to weekend getaways. Over 72 percent of the people said that they are now getting away on weekends.
The low-fare no frills airline fares have also impacted the travel industry a great deal. In the survey 93 percent of the respondents favoured air travel to any other mode. Also, over 85 percent of them were willing to pay extra for "in-flight" food and beverage.
Indian travelers have also become more Net savvy and are increasingly using the convenience of online booking. Over 58 percent of the respondents have already bought a railway ticket on the Internet and for 86 percent, it is the sheer convenience that is prompting them to buy online and that they don't mind paying more for home delivery of tickets.

Apart from this, more than 80 percent of the respondents wanted to try something new in travel, like village tourism, because they are "tired of urban monotony".
The most favoured region to travel into is North India (45 percent) , followed by the South and the East. The western region is the last choice and even locals from here prefer to go out of the region. So far, domestic travelers have been low priority customers for the hospitality industry.
However, with over 66 percent of the respondents showing a preference for stay in a hotel as opposed to family or relative's home, local travelers may finally get the red carpet welcome by the industry.

JourneyMart.com is a vertical travel portal offering travel related information, choice of travel products and enables customers to search, find and buy travel related products.

                                                                                                                                                                     
Europe tops hot spot list
Business Standard,New Delhi, May 7 2004

This summer, more Indians will be travelling to Europe, with the UK and Switzerland emerging as top destination choices. South-east Asia, the hot vacation spot of last year, has dropped to number two position. Among in-bound travellers, Kashmir scores high and Indians are willing to use the Internet to avail of services like purchasing airline tickets.

The findings are part of a survey conducted between March 22 and May 3, by JourneyMart.com, the online travel portal. It found that 35 per cent of the respondents said they’d be travelling to Europe while another 27 per cent said that they would be vacationing in south-east Asia, with Singapore scoring over Thailand and Malaysia.

This year, among leisure travellers, there seems to be greater attraction for Europe than for North America,” says Gautam Chadha, chief executive of JourneyMart.com.

The survey noted that the falling dollar rate coupled with reduced air fares is influencing Indians to travel more this year. Of the 1,700 people who participated in the online survey, 52 per cent said that they were planning to travel overseas.

In summers, the US is generally a big draw but it hasn’t been the case this year. Our survey should help the travel industry understand some trends to maximise how they can promote travel,” adds Anita Vasudeva, executive director, JourneyMart.com.

Indian travellers, the survey points out, are also opting for vacations in the subcontinent with Nepal topping the list.
The survey indicates that over 56 per cent of the respondents would spend more than Rs 25,000 on family vacations this year. Of this, 19 per cent of the respondents said they would spend over Rs 60,000 on holidays.

In domestic tourism, Goa continues to be the favourite (25 per cent) with Kerala a close second at 20 per cent. Hill station holidays remain popular with 43 per cent voting for it. Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir emerge as the top destinations.

Over 60 per cent of the respondents said that they would be “willing to pay by credit card for travel bookings on a secure website”. JourneyMart sent out 80,000 mailers for the survey, of which 1,700 responded. The site gets about four lakh hits a month, it claims.

Go Net or Go Bust
Travel Trends Today, New Delhi, November 2002
By Vikram Sharma

After being involved in marketing travel and tourism for years via Discover the World Marketing,, Tirun Travel Marketing and now JourneyMart.com, Gautam Chadha is perhaps one of the best qualified to point out the blunders that the various segments of the trade are committing in marketing the Indian tourism product

"My appeal to the industry is that they need to realize the need to co-operate and then compete," he says. " Take control of the marketplace and then compete like hell." He warns the industry that the large net driven travel conglomerates like Travelocity, are not far from India, and when they do arrive in the Indian market, they will dominate the net. "Then, will the big operators sit at their various industry association conventions and hold sessions about how to keep them out?" he wonders. According to Chadha, a major reason for the current depression in the inbound segment is the operator's total dependence on the overseas operator and getting into their brochures. " Irrespective of what you're selling, if you depend on intermediaries, then they decide the numbers and the value you get for your product," Chadha avers. According to him, the current circumstances demand numbers and the only way to get them is by making direct contact with the end consumer. He adds that the net, due to its inborn ability to reach people across geographical and political boundaries is the best and the most cost effective way to do this. " The net is here to stay, and will not go away just because the agents want it to," he declares.

Chadha feels that the situation in the travel industry is only going down. "Most people have not realized it yet. The volumes may have remained the same but the values have gone down," he explains. " Travel agents look at the numbers and think that business is still good, they will only realize the drop later, when they do their books." He feels that agents refuse to face issues or tackle them. "Take the issue of zero commissions for example. It has to happen and all it takes is one vociferous airline manager to take the first step, the rest will follow," he says. He adds that instead of focusing on what they should do once it happens, agents use their industry forums to condemn the inevitable.

Chadha describes JourneyMart.com a shopping mall on the net, where the buyer is directed to the seller. The business transactions themselves though, do not take place on the site, therefore they cannot keep account of the selling and buying that takes place. "Nor do we want to. Because the purpose of a mall is to provide the sellers with the space to display their merchandise," he explains.

The interest in JourneyMart.com is growing and it has now become the travel provider to Rediff.com and Tourismofindia.com, the Department of Tourism's website. A number of big names are joining, SOTC and Air-India to name a few. ' We have been getting 250,000 hits a month for the last few months," claims Chadha. " We realized that there is a large market for smaller hotels and also that they cannot afford to pay as much as the big properties," he says. Whereas the big hotels pay Rs.5000 per month, the smaller properties, with less than 150 rooms, now only have to pay Rs. 30 per room. The offer seems to be right on target, because Samode Hotels signed on within a week of it being launched.

There are currently 60 to 70 sellers on the site, most of which are small, dynamic and independent operations run by young entrepreneurs. " The older, well-established operators, who were go-getters in their youth, have now settled down in their comfort zones and become sedentary," he says. A younger breed of operators is emerging that is aggressive, market savvy, understands the needs of today's Indian traveler and is comfortable with today's technology."

What's next for JourneyMart? " Our goal is to work with the industry, but does the industry want to work with us?" he asks. The net does not remain static and JourneyMart will be committed to offer new products. Says he: " We hope that the industry will understand what we are trying to do and join us."

Click For a Round Trip
HTCity, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, April 14, 2002
By Meeta Mishra

If you thought that the net bubble had burst, you are wrong. It is evolving, especially to the benefit of the travel trade. According to a report of the World Tourism Organisation Council, "One in four travel purchases within the next five years will be on the Internet".

Thanks to the technology, travel does not bring nightmares of standing in long queues, being cut off from the family and work. A traveller nowadays can remain connected to the people concerned with the help of cellphones and Internet. The Internet has, in fact, come to play an important role in making a world a smaller place to live. And with the Net accessible on mobile phones, it is easier to click and get the work done now. It saves time and gets quick results.

Seeing the immense potential in the travel trade online, there are new dotcoms setting shop. JourneyMart.com is the latest addition to about 3,470,000 such sites. Part of the travel channel on MSN the site is interesting. "People want to gain as much of knowledge as possible as fast as possible. While making travel plans, for example, everyone wants to know the best deals available. With just a touch of hand, you can get the ten best deals available to go to anywhere in the world," said Shriram Adukoorie, Director MSN.

JourneyMart.com provides valuable destination information about more than 186 countries and other travel tools such as world weather, currency rates of exchange time, holidays and festivals. " This is an effort in making it easy for the travellers to find their way around without going through the hassle of traffic and telephones," says Gautam Chadha, Chairman, JourneyMart.com.

Chadha believes that the Internet has had a very impressive impact on the travel trade and this is just the beginning.

BOTTOMLINE: Journeymart.com is a one-stop travel shop for travellers as well as the industry
Take a virtual tour before going on a journey
The Financial Express, New Delhi, October 9, 2001
By Manika Gupta

If you want to know which travel agent can offer you the best discount, which airline to take, where to stay, when to go and what to take along with you, which banks and money changers to deal with once you reach the destination, then log on to Journeymart.com. It’s a one-stop travel shop. The owners of Journeymart.com may not have realised it, but they have been flirting with a new trend called travel Internet.

It’s a cyberspace where travel service providers from all segments can set up shop and offer their products online. The service is complete with a comprehensive online reference manual that offers travel information, world weather, currency conversion, real-time flight details and airline and hotel bookings and the hotels. It even provides you information on weights and measures, media availability and health norms. Whether you are a traveller or a trader, on a business or a pleasure trip, Journeymart.com has an instant solution for everyone.

Says Ms Anita Vasudeva, executive director of Interzign Solutions, which has set up the portal: “Compare it to the big mall, which has everything in it ranging from eateries to brand stores.”

Journeymart.com scores over the existing travel sites which are either online travel agencies or horizontal portals with tie-ups with preferred partners or fulfillers as they are called in travel terminology. Browsing through these sites means that the Internet-user has to go through a lot of clutter to find the right travel package.

In contrast, Journeymart.com is for the traveller as well as the hospitality industry ranging from hotels, airlines, car rental companies, cruise liners, and foreign exchange dealers to just about anybody connected with the trade.

Journeymart.com has created infrastructure for people to conduct business directly. The arrangements with traders vary depending upon the requirement. If you don’t have a website, build a Journeystore, customise it with your own corporate identity. If you already have a website, link it through Journeymart.com.

Little wonder, the response has been good—and the portal expects it to improve further. “It is expected to be overwhelming,” says Ms Vasudeva. “Virtually everyone across the board has evinced interest in the site. And Jet Airways has already tied up for a link up through the website,” adds Mr Gurjit Singh Ahuja, executive director.

To support such a huge e-marketplace for travel, Journeymart.com has tie-ups with industry’s best technology and channel partners. It has been hosted on Intel Online, which hosts sites like the US Army, American Stock Exchange, Kodak, Virgin Airlines, Sony, BBC, Yahoo for Australia and New Zealand. ICICI is providing the payment gateway for the site, to conduct the B2B operations.

JourneyMart.com: The virtual travel mall
TT Bureau, September 2001

There is a unique and sound business opportunity on the internet today for the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. It is an opportunity to focus on core travel busines, while reaching out to a large consumer market on an increasingly popular business platform.The advantages of a prominent presence on the web is no longer a question.Travel is already networked, computer- friendly and by its very definition has no boundaries.The medium matches the message perfectly!

JourneyMart.com is a virtual travel mall aiming to fulfil the entire spectrum of travel needs on one forum-giving the user multiple choices and the convenience of a relevant search. JourneyMart is not the service provider. It brings the traveller and the travel provider together. The hotel, travel agent, airline, tour operator, car rental company and other travel companies who are registered on JourneyMart transact directly with the consumer. The mall provides the choice of linking to your own website after you appear on the user's search result. It also gives you the invaluable opportunity to build your own webstore under your own corporate identity, complete with booking systems, inventory control, backoffice management and a range of themes.

For the trade, Journeymart aims to be a productive sales and distribution arm of their already existing business, offering an extended reach on a neutral and unbiased platform.

JourneyMart.com - Purveyors of a Unique Travel Experiment
Travel Trends Today, June 2001
By Rajeev Mathur

Welcome to journeymart.com - a virtual travel mall, a one stop destination that customises your itinerary to meet your specific requirements. As travel websites go, journeymart.com is a unique experiment - a dotcom that doesn't offer online bookings or hotel reservations, in fact conducts no business transactions itself.

So what is it that makes the site so unique? ...........

Says Gautam Chadha, CEO of JourneyMart.com " It is like ....an exclusive shopping mall... a neutral platform that allows travel agents, airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, foreign exchange dealers, shops and entertainment establishments et al to showcase their wares." All they have to do is buy space on the site......and sell their stuff to consumers. The portal itself has no role to play apart from providing virtual space to the purveyors of travel. Two other "critical elements", according to Chadha, are the choice in terms of quality and price, and convenience.

Commencing operations last year with just three persons, the team has now swelled to 25. .....The portal is eyeing the global market and not restricting itself to inbound traffic alone. Also, it does not see other travel sites as competitors but as potential clients........

A self sustaining venture......Chadha remains sanguine about making a profit in the first year of operations.The website's server is at Hostpro at Los Angeles - the same server that hosted the Sydney 2000 Olympic website. As he says: "The World Wide Web is here to stay. And the net is a great challenge to the traditional GSA-wholesaler-retailer circuit. I choose to embrace that challenge." .....

Travel Site
Mid-Day, Mumbai, May 23, 2001

JourneyMart.com. the travel website, focuses on the consumer's specific travel needs and then provides them access to travel products and service providers, enabling the traveller to make fast and informed choices from a database of multiple and potentially unlimited global options. The traveller has the choice and convenience to communicate, query, book and buy online with service providers on JourneyMart.com. Simultaneously, the traveller has access to a comprehensive and extensive databank in travel tools such as destination information that captures the nuances of 186 countries.

DTWM India changed to Tirun Travel Marketing
Trav Talk, May 2001
TT Bureau

Tirun Travel Marketing is a new travel marketing enterprise launched by Gautam Chadha, also the chief executive of the company which will replace, through a name change, Discover The World Marketing, India (DTWM, India). All existing resources presently under the banner of DTWM, India......... will transfer to Tirun Travel Marketing......

Tirun Travel Marketing will be representing Royal Caribbean Cruises and JourneyMart.com, a global virtual travel mall.....

Complete Travel Internet
The Hindu, Chennai, April 17, 2001

JourneyMart.com, a site on travel has been launched by three entrepreneurs, Mr. Gautam Chadha. Mr. Gurjit Singh Ahuja and Ms. Anita Vasudeva, who are experienced in travel industry for decades. It is being developed as a global travel mall and aims to be a single point of search for the global traveller...........The site focuses consumers specific travel needs and provides them access to travel products and service providers. It has the choice of convenience to communicate, query, book and buy online........

The realms of gold
The Hindu, Chennai, April 23, 2001
By TS Shankar

Shopping Malls on terra firma are now expanding in a big way. But then, there are now virtual shopping malls promising a lot more, starting with good deals. Even for those who catch the travel bug. One of the newer marts on the web, which hitches on to the WWW from Tuesday, next, is JourneyMart.com.
Will a million journeys begin here? JourneyMart.com thinks of itself as a complete and global travel Internet platform providing multiple choices.........
The Internet supermarket will focus on the specific needs of the travellers besides acting as a global platform to publicise travel-related products and service providers, enabling the consumers to make quick and informed choices from a database of multiple and potentially unlimited global options.........
Intending travellers will have the choice and convenience to communicate, query, book and buy online with service providers on JourneyMart.com, explains Mr. Gautam Chadha, its Chairman and CEO.
" We will give our space on rental for a price tag of US$ 200 per month to create this global travel platform, which would have info on exotic locales and destinations of over 186 countries, global weather...forex details, world times, holidays and festivals", says Mr Chadha, who has floated this novel travel site along with Mr. Gurjit Singh Ahuja and Ms. Anita Vasudeva. ...........

JourneyMart.com
National Herald, New Delhi, April 24, 2001

Three Indians, Gautam Chadha, Gurjit Singh Ahuja and Anita Vasudeva are thinking global in a big way with the unique concept of a travel internet on the Net - Journeymart.com. The site is being developed as a global travel mall and aims to be the first and single point of search for the global traveler.

According to Gautam Chadha, " We saw an opportunity and decided to pursue it - a first of its kind, a one of its kind ....a complete and global travel internet platform providing the traveler with convenience and multiple choices."

JourneyMart.com targets service providers for revenues
The Financial Express, New Delhi, April 25, 2001
By Shalini Dagar

Numerous travel sites on the web and the dot-com bust notwithstanding, there are a group of people brave enough to launch another travel site- Journeymart.com. But then as the promoters say: " This is different." Billed as a comprehensive global travel mall, the Website went online on Tuesday..............

Global Flavour to Local Needs
The Hindu Business Line, New Delhi, April 25, 2001
By Richa Mishra

Shopping malls are not new to Net surfers. Now they even have a travel mall that offers "travel options unlimited".
Striking a different note from run-of-the-mill dot-coms, JourneyMart.com provides a platform for the travel industry in its entirety, to conduct business with a global perspective.
This is significant as India is well below the world average as far as tapping the benefits of tourism, contributing only 0.04% of the total 700 million tourist arrivals worldwide. This, despite the industry being the third largest revenue earner for the country..............
JourneyMart.com, a division of Interzign Solutions Pvt Ltd, will be thrown open to the tourism industry from April 24. While common consumers can access the site even now, they can avail themselves of its facilities in another three months, says Anita Vasudeva, Executive Director, JourneyMart.com..........
On how this site is different from the existing ones, she said: "Most of the existing sites are travel service providers whereas JourneyMart is not."............
On the site's revenue structure, she said: "It's going to be a flat annual fee from the participants." It will be a self-sustaining revenue-generating mart, she added............

Online Travel rakes in the moolah despite 'dotcalm'
The Economic Times, Kolkatta, April 29, 2001
By Sanjukta Mitra

The dotcom fever may be on the wane, but the online travel industry has managed to keep its head well above the waters..........

JourneyMart.com is the latest kid on the block with innovative concepts like 'global travel malls'. "While all the existing players are actually serving as online travel agents in the Indian corridor, ours is a global portal with a different revenue model through advertisements and space rentals. Thus we will be offering space to all players in the travel industry to set up shop in our portal," said Gautam Chadha of Journeymart.com.

For further information or queries, please contact editor@journeymart.com