Going places, they say, wakes up the your inner self from a deep slumber to enjoy the gifts of your surroundings. Over the years, people have developed a disposition to traveling, be it within their native country or around the world. It was necessary, therefore, that some bold minds took the first step towards easing the cumbersome processes involved in traveling. And thus, were born the primitive versions of the present-day travel sites and blogs. 
Planning a round-the-country trip with family? Or a road trip in a foreign country with friends (Yeah! Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara style!)? In fact, even if you intend on stepping a foot outside your city, you are compelled to first hook up with a travel site. From handling your travel expenses to letting you in on what to do in the mystic foreign land, from finding hotels that suit your budget to booking rooms in them, these sites are surely perfectly packaged deals!
What’s interesting though, and deeply motivating, is that these sites are all products of some very small yet compact ideas. The folks behind makemytrip and TripAdvisor were not always meant to do what they are doing today, not even close. But they sure had the guile to cash in on the very first opportunity they saw. They did what a true entrepreneur sights to do : not invent something out of the blue, but to improve upon what is not quite perfect. In fact, for most people starting a business, the issue should not be coming up with something so unique that no one has ever heard of it but instead answering the questions: “How can I improve on this?” or “Can I do this better or differently from the other guy doing it over there?”
Almost all travel sites today are based on nothing more than PR (Public Relations). It is all a matter of establishing and maintaining relations with clients. For instance, when a website allows us to make hotel reservations, it means that the site has an understanding with the hotel as per which the site advertises the hotel and the latter pays a certain commission to the former for doing so. Now it isn’t rocket science to decipher what’s going on, but what actually counts is that to possess the skill of independently implementing your fundamental idea as per the whims of the world. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to adapt to the fancies of the consumers. As a very small example, we see websites like peek.com and zaptravel.com flooded with deals on romantic getaways during the month of February. Thus, they tend to cater to the changing needs the masses.
Travel sites, thus present an interesting case of an unusually simple idea being built upon in innumerable witty and profitable manners. At the root level, they teach us how to “chance upon” path-breaking ideas. Moreover, exemplifying the importance of learning and developing various skills, the entire sector of travel websites can easily be regarded as the Holy Grail of business startups.
Divyansh Srivastava
eDC IIT Delhi
Entrepreneurship at IIT Delhi 