Visits to wego.co.in have tripled since launch with revenue increasing by 446 per cent. User activity has broadened from 2011 whereusers in India were searching 3,000 destination options, growing to over 4,750 by the end of 2012.
"Indians have discovered just how much money can be saved on the cost of travel by using Wego," explained Jackson Fernandez, General Manager of Wego India. "Wego's travel metasearch has been firmly embraced in this country and our users appreciate how easy it is to identify the best airfares and accommodation online."
Wego is the first travel metasearch site in India available in 11 national languages including Bengali, Gujarati and Telugu amongst otherswhich has proved immensely popular with travellers, particularly those seeking affordable domestic holidays.
"Over the past three months our site has registered an increase in local language searches with Bengali and Malayalam showing over 50 per cent increase in site usage, closely followed by Oriya and Urdu," Fernandez added. "The site's customised language and content has proved a worthy investment meeting a clear demand for users not previously able to access search technology in their first language. Wego's convenience and simplicity has also been noticed, and increasingly used, by international corporate travellers which have shown tremendous growth."
Entrepreneur Fernandez with a strong background in start-ups, has been key in growing Wego's Indian operation most successfully, resulting in the relocation to larger premises and a growing workforce.
"We're delighted the business has grown so quickly in such a short amount of time," he adds. "We continue to attract high profile travel partnerships and affiliates, and strengthen the trust we have inspired in Wego for our travel users. As we continue aggressively growing our footprint, we also look forward to attracting the best talent that will help us scale our India operations."
In addition to the new Bengaluru office space, Wego is currently moving into a new phase in its global development with a move of its Singapore head office to larger premises, and the opening of a new regional office in Dubai to service the growing markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
The expansion in India also comes as a result of the positive association with HolidayIQ which is now an important distribution partner for Wego India. Wego merged with the community site in late 2010, and both businesses grew rapidly. Recently, Wego spun off Holiday IQ so that the two companies can pursue and give focus to their individual interests, while maintaining a good working relationship within the travel industry.
Collectively, Indian travellers using Wego today are exploring options at over 4,000 destinations. Searches include the inventory of 600 full service and low cost airlines, 350,000 hotels and resorts, as well as 400,000 recently integrated vacation rentals. Wego compares over 700 travel sites to present its comprehensive results.
Wego India's new office is located in Indiranagar, Bangalore.
About Wego:
Wego.com is the Asia Pacific and the Middle East's leading travel metasearch engine, operating in over 50 markets worldwide and used by millions of travellers to save time, pay less and travel more. The company provides powerful yet simple to use tools that help travellers to research trips, compare prices and book travel online. Wego shows users an unbiased and channel neutral view of travel prices, providing a choice of booking direct with a hotel or airline, or via an OTA or aggregator site. In Q3-2012 Wego referred in excess of $1.2 Billion in potential bookings to the websites of its travel partners. Wego.com was founded in 2005 and shareholders include; Tiger Global Management and the Crescent Point Group. For more information, please visit http://www.wego.com/about
