Indians to spend more on holidays abroad this year: Survey
Amidst optimism about the country’s economy, Indians are projected to spend more on holidays aboard this year, said a global travel survey.
Amidst optimism about the country’s economy, Indians are projected to spend more on holidays aboard this year, said a global travel survey.
Travel portal, TripAdvisor, polled more than 44,000 people across 25 countries during the survey conducted between January 16 and February 2. Of these, just over 32,158 were its own customers interviewed online. The others who participated in the survey were a mix of hoteliers and panellist from a market research company.
Of the 1,000-odd Indian travellers included in the survey, 53% said that they had plans to increase their travel budget this year. The average expenses on an international vacation for an Indian family (of three members) is expected to increase from Rs 2,17,800 in 2014 to Rs 2,55,100 this year – a 17% growth, the travel report added.
“Against the optimistic backdrop of the Indian economy, both travellers and hoteliers are expressing clear intentions that paint a positive picture for the Indian travel sector in 2015. Significantly, this optimism looks set to translate into a sharp spike in the number of Indians travelling abroad this year,” said Nikhil Ganju, country manager, TripAdvisor, India.
The survey also found that many Indians were planning to go on more foreign trips this year. Unlike 15% global respondents planning to increase their frequency of foreign travel, 45% Indians said that they would have more vacations aboard this year. Travellers from Turkey and New Zealand were the other two markets that promised to increase trips to foreign destinations.
Globetrotters:
1. Indians tourists planning to increase their vacations budget: 53%
2. Indians travellers planning to cut down their holiday budget owing to financial constraints: 23%
3. Of these, 37% respondents said that they had not saved enough for a holiday, while 33% said that they would take shorter trip. About 27% said they would choose cheaper foreign destinations
4. Only 11% Indians (versus 16% global travellers) said currency exchange rates were a barrier for hoping to visit their dream destination
5. Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and France were the top dream destinations for Indian travellers in the next 24 months, subject to adequate savings.