MUMBAI: Last year, the Indian hospitality industry welcomed one more entrant - Musafir.com - and it is all ready to face the fast-growing Indian online travel agency (OTA) market by strengthening its team.

The online portal has appointed Vijay Kesavan as the new CEO for its Indian operations. In this new role, Kesavan will be responsible for driving Musafir.com’s business strategy which is aimed at capturing the brand’s position among the top five OTAs in India.

Oh his new role, Kesavan said, “With the ever increasing demand in Travel and Tourism Industry, India offers tremendous business opportunities for a new brand like Musafir.com. Having proved its credibility in the UAE, Musafir has already made an impact in the Indian segment. I look forward to the new challenges and great experiences that the brand has to offer.”

Prior to this, Kesavan ran operations for Thomas Cook as the senior vice-president and head of online sales and distribution. He comes with extensive experience in the travel industry having worked across the sector with akbartravelsonline.com and Indigo Airlines. He has in-depth knowledge of the e-commerce industry having started his career with the Interglobe Technology Quotient.

Commenting on the announcement, Musafir.com MD Sachin Gadoya said, “We are delighted to welcome Vijay to Musafir.com, he has a wealth of experience in the travel and tourism sector, which will greatly benefit the organisation.  Being a young and innovative brand, we aspire to be among the top 5 OTAs in India by 2018. To achieve this ambitious goal, we continue to add talent and expertise to the organisation. Vijay’s appointment is an example of the high calibre team we continue to build. We are positive that his rich pool of knowledge would contribute towards strengthening our base and accelerating growth in India.”