India is a hard market to crack for online players in the travel sector because cash is still king, and few want to pay online with a credit card.
Lynne Oldfield, GTA senior director Australasia and India, said a lot of cash transactions are made “to hide black money†and customers are still going through traditional channels “where cash rulesâ€.
She said credit card use was not widespread in India and those that did have credit cards were reluctant to give their card details to a website.
Danny Kondic, vice president-channel management for Abacus International, said it was almost impossible to pick winners in the online travel space in India.
He said Australia was not a sought after destination for first time travellers from India, so “there is a huge sector of the public that you don’t want to go near.â€
Kondic said Australia receives the more mature travellers from India but “trying to target your market in India can still be overwhelmingâ€.
