During the WIT Indonesia panel, featuring MakeMyTrip, Expedia Inc,Agoda and ITA Software by Google, much was said about the rising costs of search – and as such, OTAs are trying to get further up the customer funnel.

Hence Priceline buying Kayak, Expedia purchasing Trivago and MakeMyTrip which bought iXiGo couple of years ago in India.

And then there’s Google ITA Software launching its flight search tool across Asia – how much traction that will have remains to be seen in Asia’s complicated fare market – but it’s set up regional offices in Singapore to roll out the product across markets.

Amit Saberwal, chief business officer of MakeMyTrip (left in picture), said the cost of traffic and customer acquisition would create more barriers for smaller, inefficient players – and this is where the big boys will have an advantage over smaller, local players with limited resources.

The acquisition of Hoteltravel.com for US$25 million last year is keeping India’s largest OTA busy. Integration is never easy – two different cultures do not a seamless melting pot make. Could that process distract India’s largest OTA from growth? Saberwal says no, the Phuket-based site gives it the instant depth and breadth of content it needs to compete and HotelTravel.com will become MMT’s consumer facing brand outside India.

Timothy Hughes, vice president marketing of Agoda (right), says the OTA business is hard, it’s non-stop work, building traffic, adding content, driving conversions, improving customer experience – you almost felt story for him.

One area he’s working on to address the escalating cost of customer acquisition is social. We may have cracked the code, he said, but he remained tight-lipped about details as he did about most other details related to numbers and strategy.

He also maintained that Agoda, which has a strong share of the Indonesian market, is a “local” player when faced with the question of who will win in the country which is seeing a mushrooming of local online players.

Peter Lee, senior director, market management, Asia Pacific, Expedia (left in picture), cited the new Expedia Traveller Preference it’s introducing in Asia as giving customers what they want – a choice between pre-paying or on-site payment. It’s going where the customers are and giving them what they want, that’s the key, he said.

For Venkat Chandramoleshwar (right), business development manager-APAC, for ITA Software by Google, that means “getting you just the right information at just the right time” and “a beautiful experience across all platforms”.

MakeMyTrip is betting big on mobile which is “forcing us to simplify – less is more”, said Saberwal.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Google’s new head for Asia Pacific, Karim Temsamani said that what excites him about the region is that Internet users are ahead of other regions in the world, especially in terms of mobile and video. A key challenge, he sees though is that for “even in Asia-Pacific, more than half of the companies in the region don’t even have mobile-optimized sites”.

“The experience of users visiting a business website on their mobile devices can be a very underwhelming experience. They go to a desktop site and they have to play with the device trying to enlarge the page. Some of the content may not be viewable, or it may not be possible to complete a purchase because the site is not mobile-optimized.

“Given the opportunities that will arise in the next couple of years for companies following users on mobile devices, the current state of many businesses that are not waking up to the challenge is actually quite alarming.”

Alarming or not, panelists agreed that the potential for online travel in South-east Asia is immense, especially at the rate consumers are adopting mobile and social. There’s a contention that online travel’s share in South-east Asia remains relatively low and is lagging behind customer adoption of technology.

According to PhoCusWright’s Asia Pacific Online Travel Review, online bookings in South-east Asia grew 34% in 2011, representing 12% of the APAC online market, and will grow another 24% in 2013, when its share of the APAC online travel market will reach 14%.

So what are the factors holding it back?

Chandramoleshwar said, “Payment mechanisms are one big hold-up for adoption of e-commerce in general and for travel in particular, where in credit card limits for example come in the way of making a reasonable sized purchase. New and alternative forms of payment must be pursued to grown online adoption.

“There is a social, cultural aspect to this as well. Making a booking and paying a person (travel agent) seems more secure and convincing versus transacting online. Hence, with higher online adoption, people research online while purchasing offline.”

He added, “Travel planning still remains complex, with many websites to look across and airline and hotel sites to check on. A more streamlined experience for users along with assurance on lowest price (such as what Cleartrip has done in India) will help increase travel e-commerce.

“Finally, visas and travel documentation requirements for international travel make even online savvy users to go with traditional agents who handles visas and booking altogether.

“All this will change and the growth in online travel is imminent as these issues are addressed.

Saberwal observed, “We saw online travel take off in India despite the limitations in infrastructure – hotels, airlines, etc. In South-east Asia, there is no lack of infrastructure – so many hotels, so many airlines. Lion Air ordering over 200 planes from Airbus alone – the growth is coming for sure.”