EaseMyTrip expands international presence to Philippines, Thailand, and the USA

Online travel platform EaseMyTrip said on Thursday it has expanded its international footprint by incorporating wholly-owned subsidiaries in the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States of America as part of its second phase of global expansion.

The company said it has forayed into these new countries anticipating a 'huge' pent-up global demand for the travel and tourism sector in the coming months.

EaseMyTrip had previously established its presence across countries such as the UAE, Singapore, and the UK to cater to their Indian customers traveling to these countries.

CEO and co-founder Nishant Pitti said Philippines, Thailand, and the USA represent a significant part of the company's international holiday package business.

"With a strong pent-up travel demand across the world, we see a wider global market open for travel, and we believe that EaseMyTrip is well-poised for explosive growth internationally," he added.

Co-founder Prashant Pitti said the company will launch a localized travel search engine in each global subsidiary besides tying with local airlines and payment gateways.

"We want to establish our air ticketing business in these countries. We will also tie up with local payment gateway providers in these countries besides the airlines. We will be competing on the basis of pricing. We will be able to offer tickets at a much better price. The average ticket price in the US is $15. We would be able to offer tickets at $5 and still be profitable," he said. "Our core teams will continue being based here. We grew in India by not charging a convenience fee and were able to offer better pricing. We may use the same strategy in the other countries or charge a much lower service fee. Recovery is already happening in the travel sector in India. We are witnessing healthy margins," he added.

Currently, the search engine developed for the UAE is live, and the subsidiaries in Singapore, the UK, Philippines, Thailand, and the US are set to follow suit.

The company, which has been profitable since inception, provides its customers with the option of zero-convenience fee at the time of booking tickets.