They include the online shopping mall ibaya.com, the HR management site, ThinkHr.com, youth site uthplanet.com, women's portal SoulKurry.com, horizontal portal ForIndia.com, Apollo Hospitals B2B site, ApnaGuide, the customer feedback site and Chitralekha.com - the online Gujrati language magazine site. The offline alliances include one with FaceTime.net, a web enabled call centre company and Avis car rentals. Explaining the rationale behind the various alliances Manoj Gursahani, CEO, Travelmartindia.com says, the primary aim is to get traffic diverted into our site and then garner a community for whom we can provide travel services where we will also undertake fulfilment.

What is interesting is the way Travelmartindia plans to tap the strengths of each of its partners to evolve an appropriate strategy and create specialized content for its users. In the case of ApnaGuide, the customer feedback site for instance, users will be encouraged to write in on their travel experiences which will serve as feedback for potential travellers to that country, this will also be the Point of Purchase for Travelmartindia's travel packages.

In the case of Apollo Hospitals' B2B site, Travelmartindia has bagged the mandate to organize the travel arrangements for patients, who come into the country to avail of treatment. ThinkHr.com a site started by a couple of HR consultants harnesses the all important corporate community for Travelmartindia while SoulKurry.com provides the travel site with women users on the Internet. "In fact we are working with every one of these partners to generate content and packages which will be relevant to each of these communities," says Gursahani. With uthplanet.com (read youth planet), travelmartindia will be able to address the youth community.

"Though they may not immediately classify as a very potent customer base, they are certainly very big influencers, when it comes to travel," explains Gursahani.