MakeMyTrip.comadded another pioneering feature to its innovation roster with the launch of train-booking app that supports search and booking in 6 languages. The company has launched India’s first vernacular rail booking app in five languages(besides English) –Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam and Gujarati. MakeMyTrip is the only OTA in India to offer this service.This follows its vernacularization efforts that began last year withIndia’sfirst flight-booking service in Hindi on mobile. The flight-booking service will also be extended to other vernacular languages such as Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam this year.
Commenting on the launch Anshuman Bapna, Chief Product Officer, MakeMyTrip.com said, “We are committed to using Technology to make the travel-purchase experience more convenient and delightful for travellers. Customized content, in language of preference, is the next-step towards creating customer-delight through Technology. Continuing with our mobile-first approach, we have introduced these features on the mobile app to reach out to a large majority of travelers for whom mobile now the preferred device to search, plan and book travel. Additionally, we have introduced features that provide more value and benefit to customers, such as return-booking facility which is currently not available on any mobile-app.”
Elaborating on the potential of the service Anshuman added, “Rail was the fastest-growing travel segment in India in 2014. It is also the second-biggest travel segment in India. With online rail penetration at 43% in 2014, providing value-added services on mobile will further accelerate the growth and adoption of online rail-bookings.There is tremendous potential in vernacular content and we are investinginservicessupported by vernacular content to catalyze the offline to online shift.”
Rail-booking trends from non-metros (on MakeMyTrip):
- Rail-bookings from non-metros in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat contribute to over one-thrid of total rail bookings for MakeMyTrip
- Mobile bookings from non-metros in Gujarat surpass desktop bookings
- Share of online rail-bookings from non-metros from Kerala is the highest among other travel-bookings (such as Flights, Hotels and Bus bookings)in the state
The app is available for download at http://bit.ly/1gJorhv