Online travel provider Yatra comes up with voice-enabled search on app

Online travel solutions provider Yatra.com has introduced a voice-enabled search and booking app, which allows customers to explore various flight options using the microphone of a smartphone instead of its keyboard.

Yatra has introduced voice search to revolutionise and simplify the user experience while booking domestic and international flights, the company said in a release.

 "Over the last 18 months, we have seen a significant increase in searches and bookings via mobiles and hence the introduction of a feature like voice search to make it easier for the mobile user to search and book flights.

 "We think it will play a transformational role in the way flight bookings are made," Yatra.com Chief Operating Officer for B2B Sharat Dhall said.  With smartphone prices crashing and penetration increasing rapidly, the Indian traveller of today is very comfortable making flight bookings via their mobile and the voice search feature will go a long way in making the experience a very easy and seamless one, the company said.

 For search and booking, one simply needs to tap on the microphone icon appearing at the top right on his or her mobile phone and speak out the travel details, it said, adding that on doing so, the flight results with all the options would appear instantly.

 Voice search is particularly useful for long queries that would otherwise require plenty of details to be typed in, such as number of travellers, number of adults or children, among others, the release said.  According to Yatra, one of the features of the app is that popular holidays are synchronised into it, so one can search for a particular flight gives instantly all the available flight options.

 "Voice searches on search engines are already over 20 percent of all mobile searches and continue to grow everyday. At Yatra, we have always been at the forefront of technology innovation in the online travel space and the addition of
voice search is in line with our endeavour to improve user experience and create happy travellers," Dhall said.

• travel
• tourism
• app