Take Trip intends to digitalise group tour bookings : COO Daraz

Dhaka : The new entrant in the online travel agency market of Bangladesh-Take Trip-is currently focusing to digitalise group tour bookings. This is a segment that is still untapped by OTAs in the country and occupied by decades-old traditional travel agencies.

Therefore, Take Trip, a sister concern of the renowned US-Bangla Airlines, recently started its operations with initial goals of capturing the Business-to-Business (B2B) group tour booking segment in the country. 

Daraz Mahmud, COO of Take Trip said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor at the latter's office in the capital.

Even though, Take Trip started operations with more priority on B2B services, without Business-to-Customer (B2C), an OTA cannot sustain in the long run, claimed Daraz.

Nevertheless, at present, the B2B market is bigger and contains more business, said Daraz, as the country, comparatively, witnesses lower usage of cards.

Currently, the air travel need in Bangladesh is skyrocketing, said Daraz, referring to IATA's report of its total sales volume in Bangladesh, which is BDT 1000 crore. Including air tickets sold outside IATA channels as well as SOTO tickets, the total sales volume will be even more, up to BDT 1500 crore, claimed Daraz.

OTAs at present occupy 44 per cent of this market. However, from 2024, Daraz anticipates the market share of OTAs will be 55 per cent, close to India's 62 per cent of market share occupied by OTAs.

An OTA works as a complete solution provider to users, where all the APIs are integrated to support a ready-made platform with all the available facilities, claimed Daraz. 

B2B services of Take Trip helps small travel agencies grow while paving the way for the OTA to earn extra revenue apart from its B2C services, informed Daraz.

To sustain in the market, Take Trip aims to be fully service-oriented to meet customer needs 24/7. The purpose is to offer customers complete travel solutions, stressed Daraz.