The Travel Tech Market in India
India's online travel market is worth $15 billion and growing at 14% annually. With post-pandemic recovery in full swing, travel-tech startups are seeing unprecedented demand.
Traditional vs AI-Accelerated Development
Traditional Development
Timeline: 7-12 months
Cost: ₹70L-1 crore
- Large teams for GDS/API integration
- Complex manual booking flows
- Extended payment gateway testing
- High coordination overhead
AI-Accelerated (Boolean & Beyond)
Timeline: 10-14 weeks
Cost: ₹20-50 lakhs
- Small expert team with AI tools
- Pre-built travel API connectors
- Rapid booking flow setup
- Automated payment testing
Types of Travel Booking Platforms
1. Niche OTA (Single Vertical)
Traditional: ₹40-60 lakhs, 4-6 months
With AI: ₹15-28 lakhs, 6-8 weeks
Focus on one vertical:
- Flights only
- Hotels only
- Bus/rail bookings
- Holiday packages
2. Full-Stack OTA
Traditional: ₹1-2 crore, 8-12 months
With AI: ₹38-70 lakhs, 10-14 weeks
Multiple verticals:
- Flights + Hotels + Holidays
- Buses and trains
- Cabs and transfers
- Visa assistance
- Travel insurance
3. B2B Travel Platform
Traditional: ₹80 lakh-1.5 crore, 7-10 months
With AI: ₹30-55 lakhs, 8-11 weeks
For travel agents:
- White-label booking engine
- Agent management
- Commission handling
- Sub-agent networks
- Corporate travel management
Critical API Integrations
Flight Booking
GDS (Global Distribution Systems):
- Amadeus (most comprehensive)
- Sabre (strong US inventory)
- Travelport (Galileo, Apollo, Worldspan)
Cost: ₹50,000-2 lakh setup + transaction fees
LCC Direct APIs:
- IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India Express
- Cheaper than GDS but complex integration
Aggregators:
- TBO, Riya Travel, Tripjack
- Easier integration, higher margins to share
Hotel Booking
Aggregators:
- TBO Hotels
- HotelBeds
- Expedia Partner Solutions
- Booking.com Affiliate
Direct Contracts:
- Higher margins but complex operations
- Need dedicated contracting team
Payments
- Razorpay (most popular in India)
- PayU
- Cashfree
- HDFC/ICICI payment gateways
Considerations:
- EMI options are crucial for travel
- BNPL integration (Simpl, LazyPay)
- UPI for instant payments
- Multi-currency for international bookings
Technical Architecture
Booking Engine
```
User Search → API Calls to Suppliers → Price Comparison →
Booking Selection → Payment → Confirmation → Ticket Generation
```
Key Challenges:
- Real-time inventory (prices change by minute)
- Handling booking failures gracefully
- Managing cancellations and refunds
- Multi-supplier fallback
Technology Stack
Backend:
- Node.js or Java for high concurrency
- Redis for caching fare results
- PostgreSQL for booking data
- Elasticsearch for search
Frontend:
- Next.js for SEO-friendly pages
- React Native for mobile apps
- PWA for lite version
Infrastructure:
- AWS or Azure
- Auto-scaling for traffic spikes
- CDN for global performance
AI Features for Travel Apps
Intelligent Search
Understanding natural language queries:
- "Weekend trip to Goa for couples"
- "Cheapest flight to Dubai next month"
Development cost: ₹12-18 lakhs
Price Prediction
Forecast when prices will rise/fall:
- Historical pricing data analysis
- Demand pattern recognition
- Alert users for best booking time
Development cost: ₹15-25 lakhs
Personalised Recommendations
Based on user history and preferences:
- Destination suggestions
- Hotel matching
- Activity recommendations
Development cost: ₹10-18 lakhs
Conversational Booking
Chatbot for trip planning and booking:
- Multi-turn conversations
- Context awareness
- Booking assistance
Development cost: ₹15-25 lakhs
Regulatory Considerations
- IATA accreditation for selling air tickets
- GST compliance (TCS on travel bookings)
- Consumer protection regulations
- Data protection for traveller information
Revenue Model
Commissions:
- Flights: 1-3% or fixed per booking
- Hotels: 15-25%
- Buses: 5-10%
- Holidays: 10-20%
Convenience Fees:
- ₹50-300 per booking
- Higher for complex itineraries
Advertising:
- Featured listings
- Destination marketing
- Sponsored recommendations
Development Team
For a full-stack OTA:
- 1 Technical Architect
- 3-4 Backend Developers
- 2 Frontend Developers
- 2 Mobile Developers
- 1 DevOps Engineer
- 2 QA Engineers
- 1 Product Manager
Monthly cost in Bangalore: ₹20-30 lakhs
Why Boolean and Beyond?
Our Bangalore team has experience building travel platforms including:
- B2C booking engines
- B2B travel portals
- Corporate travel management
- Holiday package systems
[Contact us](/contact) to build your travel platform.
