According to a report in Times of India, The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) has decided to enter the arena of international tour packages.

This would mean that if you, the passenger, is interested in an international tour, all you will have to do is to log on to the IRCTC website or make a call with specifications about your desired itinerary.

“We will customise tours as per requirements. We aim mostly at corporate and middle-class families who now want to explore less expensive holiday destinations like the South-East Asian countries,’’ said Virendra Singh, group general manager of the IRCTC.

IRCTC would look after the whole nine yards of the tour plan—right from the booking of the airline ticket to the stay, transportation, sight seeing and other logistics. “We will be pricing the tours competitively,’’ said Singh.

He added that they would initially start with places like Bangkok, Singapore, Macau as they are popular with the Indian middle-class. “The process is its nascent stage and we are studying the market at present. However, if all goes as planned, we will launch the service shortly, say in the next six months,’’ he said. IRCTC would also appoint operators for different services who would be paid a certain amount as well as hire ground agents. “The liability of the entire tour will, however, still be ours,’’ he said. The size of the travel groups will range between 10 and 20 people.

Singh added that the west zone of the IRCTC, which covers Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of UP, MP and Rajasthan, has sent the proposal to its corporate office.

IRCTC already operates rail tour packages that have gained popularity over the years. The Bharat Darshan tour, which was launched around three years ago, does two-three trips a month and in 2009-10, did 25 tours covering several states. These are economical packages, which cost an average of Rs 500 per day per person and their duration is eight to 10 days. IRCTC also offers slightly more expensive full tariff trains where passengers stay at three-star hotels rather than dharamshalas. They also allow people to chartered coaches.

“We are not confined to railways only. We have done much in that field already. These international tours would be an extension of our services,’’ Singh said.

IRCTC introduced flight bookings on its website on May 11. “The feedback from middle-class users who go for the packaged domestic rail tours is that they want international holiday packages at low prices. Before IRCTC, there was no concept of rail tourism in India, we now look at passengers as tourists,’’ said Singh.

If the plan is successful, the IRCTC will also look at tours to the US and Africa. “Established players are already there. Let’s see how things go,’’ he said.