Festivals in India : Avis India

Avis India to introduce micro site for Indian travel trade in November 2009 : Avis India , operating in the country since 1998 now plans to introduce a micro site for Indian travel trade by November this year. With the increasing competition in the Indian car rentals segment, the company is planning to come up with innovative ways for enhancing relations with travel trade. Providing an insight on the portal, which is still under construction, Rahul Kumar, National Marketing Manager – India , Avis India said, “With the relaunch of our portal, we will introduce the micro site for Indian travel trade, a website inside another website. Each travel agent will be provided with an unique log in id and password. With the commissions on airline tickets going to zero, travel agents are also considering various other revenue streams, car rentals being one of the top three options.” Travel to India.

Currently, the company is looking at working with bigger travel agents in India . “We are looking at having marketing and business tie-ups with travel agents having national presence. Since, the international branches are promoting us in the overseas market, we are looking at working with outbound focused travel agents in India ,” added Kumar. The company will provide commissions based on travel agent's network and volume of bookings. Apart from enhancing the travel trade network, the company is also expanding its geographical base in India .

“We are focussing on cities of business and commercial importance like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Baroda and destinations like Goa. We plan to start operations in these cities soon. Initially, we will start with smaller fleet size and will increase the fleet strength with increase in demand,” said Kumar. Currently Avis India has a presence in in 16 metro and mini metros namely, Agra, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Kochi, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Pune, Rishikesh, Shimla and Udaipur. The company is also going to start its counter at Udaipur Airport by October this year. It already has counters at Delhi , Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad Airport . “The tie-up with various airports has been and will remain a key part of Avis' growth strategy in India and globally. We already have 1,000 airport locations worldwide and largest airport network in India ,” added Kumar.

The company is considering ways to enhance relations with corporate clients as well. Currently, a discount card has been made available by the company named Avis Advantage under which a member is entitled to ten per cent discount on Avis Worldwide network and priority service. It has started offering lease products to its corporate client base along with running few promotional activities. Mercury Car Rental is the sole franchisee and master licensee of Avis Europe Plc.