Private e-portals to book government trips soon

NEW DELHI: Online private travel portals like Makemytrip and Yatra may soon become authorised travel agents for government trips. The department of commerce is in talks with such third party travel aggregators for steep discounts and reimbursements for cancelled tickets to get them on board.

“We are talking to many third party aggregators including Yatra and MakeMyTrip to offer services on Government eMarketplace (GeM),” said an official, adding that this would be the first step to make them the official ticketing partners.

At present, only state-run entities such as Balmer Lawrie, IRCTC and Ashok Travels & Tours are empanelled as official travel agents. In case of official air travel, tickets can be purchased directly from the airlines or through the three authorised travel agents.

“Our priority is more discounts and reimbursements for cancelled tickets because this is key in government travel. We want them to consider these aspects,” the official added. “We are still in the early stages of discussion and are not in a position to comment on this as of now,” said a Yatra spokesperson, while an email sent to a MakeMyTrip spokesperson remained unanswered.