Leading travel commerce platform Travelport has released new research that demonstrates the dramatic transformation the Indian travel market has undergone in recent years, with up to two thirds of travellers in India preferring to book packages when buying their biggest holiday of the year.
The research released by Travelport as part of a co-sponsored study with Phocuswright, revealed that of those surveyed 48 per cent of travellers said their most significant trip of the past 12 months was a traditional package, while 21 per cent said they had bought a tailor-made trip.
The survey was conducted across almost 2,500 travellers from the top socio-economic groups in India, encompassing 25 urban centres. The results detail how at the heart of the country’s online travel growth is a generation of well-educated, tech savvy and upwardly mobile Indian consumers eager to indulge their wanderlust.
Online travel bookings are expected to grow rapidly through 2016 when India online travel penetration is projected to reach 46 per cent, up from 35 per cent in 2012. For their main holiday of the year, 62 per cent searched online travel agents with 56 per cent using general search engines. Some 40 per cent researched their holidays on their mobile.
A huge number of those who are travelling overseas are doing so for the first time; two out of three who took an overseas trip in the previous 12 months had not done so before.
Interestingly, two thirds of travellers in India are young adults, with 52 per cent aged between 25 to 34 and 17 per cent aged 18-24. Of those surveyed, 64 per cent have a family of up to four people and 65 per cent are employed in a private organisation.
When travellers were asked for the reasons behind their decisions, some 43 per cent said they felt packages were cheaper than independent trips and 40 per cent said they booked packages because they included sightseeing tours. Three quarters of travellers admitted to being extremely influenced by user-generated content, such as online reviews on popular websites such as TripAdvisor. Forty five percent got a personal recommendation from friends/family.
Matthew Powell, senior director, India, Travelport Africa, Middle East and South Asia commented on the findings: “The majority of people in India – 52 per cent - are booking online and offline, with just 13 per cent booking online only and an even smaller number, 5 per cent, only booking offline. These consumer trends in India demonstrate how technology in travel commerce has been the catalyst for the dramatic transformation in the Indian travel market and they key role it will play in its continued growth.”
Sandeep Dwivedi, chief commercial officer, InterGlobe Technology Quotient, distributors of Travelport in India and Sri Lanka commented: “What’s most exciting is what is to come and with online travel bookings in India expected to reach 46 per cent through 2016, Travelport is committed to supporting the online travel sector in the country through our travel commerce platform which is unrivalled in demonstrating the value agencies can bring to their customers with the travel choices and high levels of service they expect.”
**************************************************************************************************************************************India by numbers
46pc Projected online travel bookings through 2016
52pc Of total travellers are aged 25 to 34
52pc Of travellers book through both online and offline media