Indian travellers splurge the most during business trips when compared globally, a recent travel survey has revealed.
Analysing the behavior and preferences among travellers across Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and South America, Expedia.com, the world's largest online travel agency and Egencia, the business travel arm of Expedia said Indian is amongst the fastest growing business travel markets globally and is expected to be a USD 50 billion market by 2017.
The joint survey on the Future of Travel also said that India's business travel industry is maturing rapidly, and added that Indian businessmen expects the best in class technology.
The survey was conducted online fromAugust 20 to September 12, 2013 by Harris Interactive among 8,535 respondents in 24 countries.
"The survey shows a clear progression of Indian travellers with respect to increasing number of trips annually, bothbusiness and leisure.In fact, Indian travellers splurge most during business trips when compared globally. The rise in trips has also led to an increase in travel research and bookings on the move, with 64% leisure travellers and 51% business travellers agreeing upon using smartphone or tablets for travel booking. To facilitate our consumers, we have been focusing on the mobility segment with regular up-gradations in our mobile application and mobile web page for ease of use. The idea is to make it one stop shop solution on the go," said Vikram Malhi, General Manager, South and Southeast Asia, Expedia.
"India is amongst the fastest growing business travel markets globally and is expected to be a US$ 50 Billion market by 2017. The business travel industry in India is maturing very quickly. The Indian business traveller expects best in class technology, as we can see in the increased adoption of the Egencia Self Booking Technology solutions and use of Egencia mobile applications. We see the future of the business travel in India to be led by companies like Egencia who are bringing in best in class technology, automation andglobal best practices to the Indian business traveller. This research validates our focus on the Indian business industry and its key drivers. It offers valuable insights to corporate travel buyers to refine their enterprise travel policies and purchase behavior to influence individual purchase choices" said Gaurav Sundaram, Country Director EgenciaIndia.
The detailed findings of the survey are as follows:
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Trip Frequency
Business (3/24 - total not 100 in Leisure travel)
Frequent travellers, more than 5 trips a year- 44 percent Indians, 39 per cent Thailand
12 per cent Indians, 14 per cent Thailand, 18 per cent Mexicans don't travel for business, lowest globally
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Leisure
34 per cent Indianstravel more than 5 times a year, second highest globally after Thailand (%)
Only three per cent Indians and Norwegians do not travel for leisure at all, lowest globally
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Average duration
Business
Maximum Indians take two day trips (34 per cent), global highest in this segment, followed by New Zealand (28 p er cent) and Canada (27 per cent)
Indians, Singaporeans, Hong Kongese take the lowest amount day trips globally at 11 per cent
Spends
Indians high on spending when on Business Trips
Hotel room upgrades - 48 (Globally highest)
High-end meals - 55 (second highest globally)
Room Service - 41 (3rd highest globally after Thailand and Hong Kong)
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Trip decision determinants
Business
Most important factors globally: Hotel location (53 per cent), Price of hotel room (44 per cent), Travel time, direct flights or layovers (42 per cent) and Airfare (36 per cent)
Most important criteria for Indians: Travel time, direct flights or layovers (54 per cent), Hotel location (51 per cent), Travel time (38 per cent)
Indians are largestcommunity to book luxurious hotels on office expenseat 29 per cent
In Singapore, India and Hong Kong, flight times emerge as in the top three most important (38)
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Leisure
Most important factors globally: Price of hotel room (44 per cent), Airfare and Hotel location (50 per cent)and Travel time, direct flights or layovers (33 per cent)
Most important criteria for Indians: Hotel location and price of hotel room (54 per cent), Airfare(43 per cent), Staying in a nice or luxurious hotel (34 per cent)
11 per cent Indians give preference to hotels' loyalty program (second highest after US - 15 per cent)
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We work hard and we party harder!
Indians bad at balancing work on trips
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o44 per cent work more and 35 per cent work lesser hours during business trips
oOnly 22 per cent work for the same amount of hours on trips
Only 25 per cent Indians have not extended their business trip into leisure (second lowest after Malaysia 23 per cent)
44 Indian respondents said that they have turned their business trip into a vacation but travelled alone for the business part
42 Indian respondents said they have had a family member or friend join them
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Loyalty programs andreward points
Employees under 40 have stronger feelings of entitlement (very entitled/entitled) toward their travel reward points than older employees (70 per cent vs. 64 per cent). Indians one of the top 3 to give importance to loyalty programs while booking flight/hotels
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o92 per cent Indians find loyalty programs important while booking hotel
o89 per cent Indians find loyalty programs important while booking flight - third highest globally
Among those who have some of the strongest feelings of entitlement toward their travel reward points are Brazilians (96 per cent), Mexicans (91 per cent) and Indians (90 per cent)
Employees under 40 have stronger feelings of entitlement (very entitled/entitled) toward their travel reward points than older employees (70 per cent vs. 64 per cent)
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Compensation:Indians on top!
More than six in ten Indian employees (65 per cent) are compensated with money for their business trips, a high across all countries and almost double of the global average
Japan on top in compensating with hours/days at 53 per cent
New Zealanders (48 per cent) at a high for not getting compensated at all!
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We trust the net
A majority of Indians save some type of personal information to streamline the travel booking process
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oMobile number -74 per cent, second highest after Korea and Malaysia at 75 per cent
oEmail - 71 per cent (Highest globally)
oHome Address - 52 per cent (Highest globally)
oWork Address - 48 per cent (Highest globally)
oCredit Card - 41 per cent (Highest globally)
Only 8 per cent Indians don't save any personal data online for travel booking, lowest globally
Those most likely to be influenced by travel related website incentives are employees in India (91 per cent), South Korea (92 per cent), Thailand (92 per cent) and Malaysia (89 per cent)
The most frequently cited incentive that would influence employees to save more of their personal data on a travel website is discounts on flights/hotels (42 per cent)
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Indians going the mobile way
57 per cent Indians use a Smartphone or Tablet for personal or business reasons, higher than the global average of 45 per cent
64 per cent of respondents have used computers to book their business as well as leisure trip
86 per cent business travellers who use their Smartphone and/or Tablet, use their mobile devices for travel purposes (bookings or monitoring itineraries)
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oPlanning - 66 per cent
oBooking a trip - 58 per cent
oSharing trip while travelling - 46 per cent
We refer and we prefer
Travel reviews gaining reliability for Indian travellers, ahead of the global crowd
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oLeisure Travellers: 56 per cent say it is very important while 34 per cent find it somewhat important
oBusiness Travellers: 56 per cent say it is very important while 35 per cent find it somewhat important
Indians are the worst cribbers!
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oOnly three in ten (29 per cent) Indians have not posted a negative travel-related comment
o40 per cent crib about hotels; 36% about restaurants
While a majority in most countries do not post positive reviews, the notable exception to this is in India where just under two in ten (17 per cent) have not posted a positive review
62 per cent Indians have posted positive reviews about hotels, 50 per cent Restaurants and 38 per cent flights
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