Indians Pack Their Bags To Hit The Road This Winter Season

With the onset of the winters, seems everyone India is in a mood of vacations—they have packed their bags and are ready to go.

A recent study done by online travel portal Yatra.com testifies the same. “Vacationing this winter seems to be the accepted norm amongst most Indians. We at Yatra.com, have seen a significant increase in holiday bookings, both domestic and international, on a year on year basis. Clearly, Indians love to travel and are happy to spend on their vacation breaks. What is very interesting is the fact that travellers would rather stay at hotels, rather than stay over with relatives or friends we picked this insight in our latest advertising campaign”, said Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com.

“The survey showcased that Indians have started taking frequent holidays through the year, albeit for shorter durations. 81.2% respondents prefer to take holidays of up to 7 days, while only 5.4% opt for holidays for more than 15 days. And a whopping 72.8% people take four or more holidays a year.”

The study further adds that close to 35% of Indian travellers are willing to spend anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 on their vacations while over 25% are ready to spend more than Rs 50,000 on their holidays.

Nature seems to be a favourite destination for most of the Indians. “While most Indians (48.1%) prefer a retreat in the lap of nature, the lazy beach holidays are also popular with 15% Indians. Hobby-centric holidays are also on the rise – 13% admitting to being adventure junkies, 12% admitted to travelling to satiate the foodie within them, 7.1% admitted to wandering in search of the historical monuments, and shopaholics accounted for 4.8%,” stated the survey.

However, the study disclosed a not-so good fact for travel agents, and that is: Indian travellers prefer mobile bookings over travel agents. “With the smart phone revolution, there has been a sizable increase in mobile bookings for Holidays. Nearly 20% Indians have started to use various mobile apps for their travel bookings, and now only 7.5% of the people prefer travel agents, while the remaining book their holidays on their desktops,” said the study.

Interestingly, the study also revealed that Indians are workaholics. A whopping 54% people like to check their phones at least once a day while holidaying in order to stay connected with their work. This is followed by 28% travellers totally switching off from work while 18.2% were glued to their phones even when they were holidaying.

The common international destinations that topped the list include Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai while domestic holiday destinations included Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan.

Image: Indiatimes.com