Chennai: Travel Port, a leading travel house is planning to expand to Tier 2 towns in India and increase franchise network to 100 towns by December.

Besides targeting North, South and East, the company was planning to grow through the franchise route in the overseas market too, its CEO Venkatesh Rao told PTI.

He said two-thirds of India's consumers lived in rural areas and could not be ignored. According to available information "rural people travel and contribute more to domestic tourism when compared to urban people." Already sectors like retail and telecom were moving to "B and C Cities." Hence, the company planned its expansion considering these aspects, he said.

Referring to Tamil Nadu, the company said given the state's progressive middle-class population and spurt in demand for travel packages, "we envisage tremendous growth in travel business in the region. Hence, we are gearing up.

Travel Port, headquartered in Mumbai, has regional offices in all the major metros and has tie-ups with international hotel groups and all major airlines.

Already two franchisees existed in the city, and one each in Chidambaram, Erode, Tiruchirapalli and Madurai.

"We are planning to open franchises in Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, Belgaum, Bellary, Mysore, Mangalore in Karnataka, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry."