Times of India invests in HolidayIQ

HolidayIQ, India's largest travel and holiday information portal announces investment in it by Times of India, the largest media organisation in India. While consolidating its leadership in internet-based travel media, HolidayIQ plans to develop offerings across mobile and other media channels.

Bangalore, India (PRWEB) April 18, 2007 -- Leisure & Lifestyle Information Services (LLIS), India's first travel media company & owner of the hugely popular holiday planning website www.HolidayIQ.com. has announced a significant minority investment in it by Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd, the holding company of the Times of India Group, the largest media organisation in India.

Prior to BCCL's investment the company had received funding from Erasmic Ventures (in which Google had recently taken a limited partnership) and from Angel Investor, Mr D S Puri (one of the co-founders of the HCL group).

HolidayIQ, which was started in early 2004, is India's first & largest travel community & currently has close to 100,000 members. The website www.HolidayIQ.com gets close to 400,000 visitors every month, with substantial increments during vacation seasons. Members of the site, who register for free, share their personal experiences of hotels, destinations and airports they visit, on the website. In association with its partners from the travel industry, HolidayIQ also offers users the ability to research the best holiday & travel deals available. Over the last 3 years, HolidayIQ.com has built high credibility as a neutral, independent & trustworthy voice of the Indian traveller.

While there has been a tremendous growth in the online airline and hotel booking segment and multi-national companies are setting up operations in India, the travel advisory space remains uncontested. With the rapid increase in number of Indians travelling on vacations, within India as well as abroad, this segment is set to explode over the next decade. In such a scenario, Holiday IQ is positioned to be the ultimate independent advisor to Indians going on vacations.

As India's first travel & vacation media brand, HolidayIQ plans to have a 360 degree presence across multiple channels. "While we leverage our early success on the internet and grow our internet product, we also plan to develop holiday offerings across Books, Magazines, Radio shows, TV shows & Mobile downloads" says Hari Nair, Founder & CEO of LLIS.

Visit www.HolidayIQ.com for information on hotels, destinations and holiday options in India.

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