Faced with stiff competition from online travel agencies (OTAs), traditional travel operators are trying to offer more holiday packages to retain and woo customers.

"OTAs are primarily used for point to point travel. They may be well funded but are not necessarily profitable," said Shravan Gupta, Managing Director, Travel Tours Pvt. Ltd.

But this doesn’t mean that offline travel operators do not face any risks. Sanjay Gupta, Chairman of the Karnataka chapter of Travel Agents Federation of India, said, "It is making an impact. OTAs have the power to reach out to more people and also have greater buying power. Traditional travel agencies need to offer personalised service to stay viable."

Supriya Kandhari, Managing Director of Chrysalis Holidays, said that the loyalty of customers and knowledge of ideal holiday destinations was helping traditional players as per a report in Business Line. "We have branched out into holidays. That is why we are not losing out so much even if we are not doing ticketing," she said.

Some operators are selling experiences to build loyalty. Shravan Gupta said that his company put together a very Indian experience for a group of executives who were visiting India from the Netherlands. “We organised elephant polo for them in Jaipur and had cycle rickshaws pick them up from the airport in Agra,” he said.

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