The aviation industry underwent significant changes in the past few decades, including introduction of low-cost carriers (LCC), sale and offers on domestic as well as international air ticket. These offers were more or less perennial in the year 2014 because of the price-based competitive strategies or launch of new services. This led to a significant growth in the number of fliers, thus, boosting tourism, especially within the country. Apart from change in preferences regarding air travel, another trend was witnessed in the booking method. In the beginning, people had to go to reservation counters to book flight, which was replaced by online booking system. However, now most travellers use their smartphones to book these tickets. In addition to air tickets, they also make hotel reservations by using applications launched by various travel portals. Industry watchers observed that this new method was promoted aggressively to penetrate the market by providing heavy incentives, cashback or other promotional offers. Here is a list of few more trends followed by travellers in the booking process in the past few quarters.
Short Trips
Most Indians preferred multiple and short trips and around 50 per cent of the bookings included weekend packages or other shorter breaks in 2014. Among all weekend packages, preferred destinations were close to metro cities. For instance, Mumbaikars explored Daman, Konkan, Aurangabad and Gujarat. An increase of 35 per cent was recorded in bookings to places like Shimla, Manali, Hampi, Gangtok, Pondicherry, Darjeeling, Coorg, Digha and Goa. In addition to these, tourists preferred to explore new and lesser-known places also. Options regarding last-minute bookings were also increased for the convenience of travellers.
Ease of Use
As per reports of a travel portal, 40 per cent of the incoming traffic was registered by mobile phones and around one-third of total reservations were made by using mobile applications. High degree of ease and accessibility are among some reasons that make this method popular. Travellers can browse websites and check seat availability for Mumbai to Pune, Chennai to Bangalore, Delhi Goa flights and many other routes by simply tapping a few times on their mobile screens. In addition to popular tourist destinations, increase in the number of Indians looking forward to adventurous trips was also amusing.
New Travel Trends
Travelling is becoming a part of the lifestyle of people in India, and theme-based travel packages were searched by many of them. Adventurous and solicited places topped the chart, followed by expedition cruises, marine tours and culinary holidays. It has been observed that bookings for offbeat destinations like Laitlum Canyons, Nohakalikai Falls, Ganapatipule Beach and other places were made by many enthusiastic tourists that included people of all ages. However, Goa emerged as the favourite among youngsters as it features serene beaches and historical sites along with ultimate party spots. As far as overseas destinations are considered, Thailand followed by Malaysia and Singapore continued to be popular among Indians.
Statistics
The average budget for the planned trip was around INR 60000 per person, and most of these trips were of four, five or six days, as per records. However, two or nine-day trips was taken by only approximately 6.5 tourists as these are either too short or too long. After a four-five and six day travel package, the complete week package was the favourite, followed by eight and three-day packages. Around 80 per cent of these reservations were made well in advance.
Nguyen An Tra My
Martin Wynn
