Delhi has thousands of travel agencies, from tour operators in Connaught Place and Paharganj to corporate travel desks in Nehru Place and B2B consolidators supplying agents across North India. Many still run on phone calls, WhatsApp and Excel, with a website that shows a few package photos and a contact form. Meanwhile, customers expect to see prices and book instantly, and sub-agents expect a login where they can book and track their own customers.
If you run an agency in Delhi and are thinking about a portal, start with the type of portal, then how flight and hotel APIs work, the B2B and B2C features, compliance and cost. That's the order we'll follow.
Which Kind of Travel Portal Do You Need?
"Travel portal" covers very different projects. Start by picking your model.
| Portal type | Who it suits | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Tour package website | Tour operators, holiday specialists, pilgrimage tours | Showcases packages with itineraries, prices and enquiry or booking |
| B2C booking portal | Agencies selling directly to travellers | Live search and booking for flights, hotels and sometimes buses or packages |
| B2B agent portal | Consolidators and larger agencies with sub-agents | Agents log in, search, book with a wallet or credit limit, and see their markup |
| Corporate travel portal | Agencies serving companies | Employee bookings with approval workflows, travel policies and GST invoices |
| Combined B2B and B2C platform | Established agencies scaling up | All of the above on one back office |
A tour package website and a flight booking portal are different projects with very different costs. Many agencies are best served by starting with a strong package website and adding live booking later.
How Flight and Hotel Booking APIs Work
Your portal does not hold flight or hotel inventory itself. It connects to suppliers through APIs.
- GDS (Global Distribution Systems): Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport give access to airline inventory. Issuing tickets directly through a GDS usually requires IATA accreditation, or working through an accredited consolidator.
- B2B consolidators and aggregators: many Indian agencies use APIs from B2B travel suppliers who bundle flights, hotels and sometimes buses, often with simpler onboarding than a GDS.
- Low-cost carrier connections: some budget airlines offer direct connections or are available through aggregators.
- Hotel suppliers and bedbanks: wholesale hotel inventory from suppliers that specialise in hotel distribution.
- Other services: bus booking, travel insurance and visa services through their own providers. Train ticket booking in India is only possible through IRCTC-authorised channels.
Each supplier has its own commercial terms, technical documentation and certification process. Some limit how many searches you can run per booking, so the portal needs smart caching. Choose suppliers before development starts, because the API decides much of the build.
Features of a B2C Travel Portal
- Flight search with filters: price, stops, airline, timings and baggage
- Hotel search with map, photos, room types and cancellation policies
- Fare rules and baggage details shown clearly before payment
- Traveller details, including passport details for international trips
- Secure payment through UPI, cards, net banking and EMI where available
- Instant e-tickets and vouchers by email and WhatsApp
- My Bookings: view, cancel, request changes and download invoices
- Holiday package pages with day-wise itineraries
- Coupons, offers and referral codes
Features of a B2B Agent Portal
- Agent registration with KYC and approval by your team
- Wallet top-up and credit limits per agent
- Markup and commission settings per agent, per product or per route
- White-label option, so agents can show your inventory under their own brand
- Booking, cancellation and amendment requests with status tracking
- Ledger, statements and downloadable invoices for each agent
- Sub-user accounts for staff within an agency
The Back Office: Where Agencies Save the Most Time
The admin side is where a travel portal earns back its cost:
- All bookings across channels in one dashboard
- Supplier-wise reconciliation of what you paid and what you charged
- Cancellations, refunds and reissues handled with a clear workflow
- GST invoices generated automatically
- Reports by product, agent, route, supplier and margin
- CRM for leads and package enquiries, with follow-up reminders
If you are still tracking enquiries and bookings in spreadsheets, our guide on moving from Excel to a custom CRM shows what changes.
Compliance and Business Points to Plan For
- IATA accreditation if you plan to issue airline tickets directly through a GDS
- GST: the treatment of air ticket service charges, hotel bookings and tour packages differs, so design invoicing with your CA
- TCS on overseas tour packages: the portal should calculate and show tax collected at source where it applies, using the current rates and thresholds
- Payment gateway approval: travel is often treated as a higher-risk category, so expect extra documents and possibly settlement holds
- Consumer protection: clear cancellation, refund and fare rules before payment
- Data protection: passport and identity details need secure storage and limited access
Ready-Made White-Label Portal or Custom Build?
| White-label travel portal | Custom portal | |
|---|---|---|
| Launch time | A few weeks | Two to four months |
| Upfront cost | Lower | Higher |
| Ongoing cost | Subscription, sometimes per booking | Hosting, API and maintenance |
| Supplier choice | Usually the provider's suppliers | Any suppliers you contract with |
| Custom features and branding | Limited | Full |
| Ownership | The provider's software | Your code and data |
A white-label portal is a reasonable way to start selling online quickly. A custom portal makes sense when you have your own supplier contracts, a large agent network, specialised products such as pilgrimage or MICE packages, or when per-booking fees on a white-label platform become expensive.
What Travel Portal Development Costs
These are typical ranges for 2026. Your cost depends on the number of products, suppliers, B2B features and apps.
| Scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Tour package website with CMS and enquiry or booking | From ₹25,000 | 2–4 weeks |
| B2C portal with flight and hotel APIs | ₹1,50,000 – ₹4,00,000 | 2–3 months |
| B2B agent portal with wallet, markup and back office | ₹2,00,000 – ₹5,00,000 | 2–4 months |
| Combined B2B and B2C platform with mobile apps | ₹5,00,000 – ₹10,00,000 | 4–6 months |
Supplier API fees, GDS costs, payment gateway charges, hosting and maintenance are separate. For app costs on their own, see our mobile app development cost guide.
Mistakes Travel Agencies Make With Portals
- Starting development before supplier API contracts and test credentials are in place
- Building flights, hotels, buses, insurance and visas all at once instead of starting with the product that sells most
- Ignoring the back office, so staff still reconcile bookings in Excel
- Showing fares that change at payment because of poor caching and price checks
- Weak cancellation and refund flows, leading to angry customers and chargebacks
- Not owning the code, domain or supplier relationships
Example: A Pilgrimage and Holiday Tour Operator
Imagine a Delhi tour operator selling Char Dham, Kashmir and Kerala packages that gets most leads through phone and WhatsApp and books flights and hotels manually. A practical first phase is a fast package website with day-wise itineraries, transparent inclusions and a booking form with advance payment, connected to a simple CRM. Once package sales are steady, phase two adds a B2B login for the agents who resell its packages, with agent-wise markup and a wallet. Live flight search can come later, once the supplier contracts are in place.
Why Talk to INDOTREX
INDOTREX builds travel websites, booking portals and back-office systems for agencies and tour operators from our New Delhi office near Bhikaji Cama Place. We help you choose the right first phase, plan around your supplier APIs, and build the back office your team will use every day. You own the code and the data.
Get a free consultation and estimate within two business days. Tell us your business model (tours, B2C, B2B or corporate), the products you sell and your current suppliers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does travel portal development cost in India?
A tour package website starts from ₹25,000. A B2C portal with flight and hotel APIs typically costs ₹1.5 lakh to ₹4 lakh, and a B2B agent portal ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh. Supplier and API fees are separate.
Do I need IATA accreditation to build a flight booking portal?
You need IATA accreditation to issue tickets directly through a GDS. Many agencies instead work through B2B consolidators whose APIs let them sell flights without direct accreditation.
What is a B2B travel portal?
A B2B travel portal lets registered sub-agents log in, search and book travel products using a wallet or credit limit, with markups and commissions set by the main agency.
Should I choose a white-label travel portal or a custom one?
White-label portals are faster and cheaper to start. Custom portals are better when you have your own supplier contracts, many agents or specialised products, and want full ownership.
How long does it take to build a travel portal?
A tour package website takes two to four weeks. B2C and B2B booking portals typically take two to four months, depending on supplier integrations.
Can the portal generate GST invoices and handle cancellations?
Yes. A well-built back office generates GST invoices and manages cancellations, refunds and reissues according to supplier and fare rules.
