Europe tops hot spot list

This summer, more Indians will be travelling to Europe, with the UK and Switzerland emerging as top destination choices. South-east Asia, the hot vacation spot of last year, has dropped to number two position.

Among in-bound travellers, Kashmir scores high and Indians are willing to use the Internet to avail of services like purchasing airline tickets.

The findings are part of a survey conducted between March 22 and May 3, by JourneyMart.com, the online travel portal. It found that 35 per cent of the respondents said they'd be travelling to Europe while another 27 per cent said that they would be vacationing in south-east Asia, with Singapore scoring over Thailand and Malaysia.

"This year, among leisure travellers, there seems to be greater attraction for Europe than for North America," says Gautam Chadha, chief executive of JourneyMart.com.

The survey noted that the falling dollar rate coupled with reduced air fares is influencing Indians to travel more this year. Of the 1,700 people who participated in the online survey, 52 per cent said that they were planning to travel overseas.

"In summers, the US is generally a big draw but it hasn't been the case this year. Our survey should help the travel industry understand some trends to maximise how they can promote travel," adds Anita Vasudeva, executive director, JourneyMart.com.

Indian travellers, the survey points out, are also opting for vacations in the subcontinent with Nepal topping the list.

The survey indicates that over 56 per cent of the respondents would spend more than Rs 25,000 on family vacations this year. Of this, 19 per cent of the respondents said they would spend over Rs 60,000 on holidays.

In domestic tourism, Goa continues to be the favourite (25 per cent) with Kerala a close second at 20 per cent. Hill station holidays remain popular with 43 per cent voting for it. Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir emerge as the top destinations.

Over 60 per cent of the respondents said that they would be "willing to pay by credit card for travel bookings on a secure website". JourneyMart sent out 80,000 mailers for the survey, of which 1,700 responded. The site gets about four lakh hits a month, it claims.