India is the most dynamic and fast growing online travel market in the APAC region. Online travel contributes 70% of all e-commerce activities globally. Private equity players have made huge investments in the Online Travel Agency (OTA) segment in the past two years. With the Indian holiday season on the horizon, HITWISE India conducted a study to understand trip planning behavior exhibiting how internet is used as information source for planning pleasure trips.
The study indicates that the typical Indian traveler does not like to make spontaneous decisions and plans the trip in advance. An evolved traveler starts planning the trip 3 months in advance by visiting travel related blogs, forums, travel related video’s/photographs, travel review sites.
Behavior of Indian traveler is quite different when he makes purchase of an air ticket and a hotel room night. Unlike purchase of air ticket, Indian traveler always looks for bargain opportunities while purchasing/booking a room night. Tripadvisor India the world largest travel review site commands the highest market share of 24.89% within this custom category of Travel Information Sites followed by Maps of India at 18.71%.
The study indicates that consumers before choosing their travel destination conduct extensive research and leverage the travel experience of other travelers before making their travel decision. The top three industries visited by the traveller after visiting Travel Information sites either to continue further research or make travel and stay bookings after finalising their travel plans, based on the number of clicks are Search Engines - 13.20%; Destinations and Accommodation (Travel) - 13.04%; Agencies (Travel) - 11.16%.
The study identifies that an online traveler evaluates his holiday destination options and then initiates the trip booking process by visiting the OTA’s and accommodation sites to evaluate, compare and book which indicates that most travel purchases take place well after a consumer’s initial search.
09/03/11 Business Standard
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