Sulekha partners with Wego.com to launch new travel offerings

Sulekha.com, the online classifieds site turned local services marketplace, has inked a strategic partnership with Wego to launch its sub-site for travel metasearch. Wego is a Singapore-based global travel metasearch site with operations in the APAC region and the Middle East.

The new service launched by Sulekha will give users access to Wego's travel search facility to look for flights and hotels. Users can also compare and book both hotels and flights.

Backed by News Digital Media and Tiger Global, Wego is positioned as a comparison tool for all kinds of travel-related searches – from flights to hotels and tour packages to deals from various Indian OTAs including MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Via, among others. It works like a data aggregator and the results from various vendors are listed on the platform.

Commenting on the development, Param Parameswaran, chairman of Sulekha.com, said, "To cater to an increased interest among our customers for travel requirements, Sulekha.com has launched a new and improved travel section on the site. It is a natural move for us to partner with Wego, a leading travel metasearch engine, to provide price comparison options for flight ticket and hotel booking. This service is a natural extension of our extensive network of classifieds listing and our users will get a huge benefit from this alliance."

"We are delighted to work with Sulekha, the leading digital commerce platform in India, and help its community of users save time and money while shopping for travel online," added Jackson Fernandez, general manager of Wego India.

Interestingly, Wego launched its India portal, Wego India, in May 2012 as part of its expansion plans. Globally, Wego powers travel metasearch Yahoo in the South-east Asia, Nine Msn Travel in Australia, YourSingapore.com, Flyklia.com and Visitabudhabi.ae. It has also established partnerships with regional and international travel players such as Agoda, Expedia, Jet Airways and Emirates.

Sulekha's travel site has a basic layout for now, with a lot of scope for visual improvement. One can look for a lot of travel-related services from tour operators, travel agents, service apartment providers and passport/visa agents apart from the usual bus services, vehicle rentals and flight and hotel booking. A lot of user-generated content, mostly articles, videos and blog posts, is also there on the site. The tab under which users book hotels, flights and bus tickets is powered by Wego.

This seems to be an extension of services for Wego and an expansion move for Sulekha. In an earlier interview with Techcircle.in, founder and CEO, Satya Prabhakar, shared that the company was looking to expand in key verticals and travel was one of those.

For now, Wego has powered the booking and comparison tool for Sulekha, and the rest of the travel content is managed by Sulekha. The new move also puts Sulekha in line of competition with OTA market leaders like MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Cleartrip, and other sites like iXiGO and TravelTriangle.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)