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. The top three OTAs by virtue of the number of visits are Make My Trip (32.84%); Yatra(27.86%) and Cleartrip (17.25%).
‘Cheap air tickets’ is the most searched generic term driving traffic to the top 10 OTA’s after the brand terms. IngiGo (21.17%) topped the table in terms of visits amongst domestic airlines followed by Jet Airways (20.01%); SpiceJet (18.24%) and Kingfisher (14.40%). Kingfisher airlines is the most popular brand term as far as search behavior is concerned but Indigo airline is the most visited sites in the Top 10 airlines. In terms of the number of clicks, Kingfisher leads the pack with 7.35% of all the clicks.
An interesting finding of the survey was that non-air ticket booking segment is growing fast with the entry of Indian Railways in the online space and many OTA’s providing online bus and train bookings. Demand for tour packages have increased among both domestic and international tourists. IRCTC has grabbed 4.39% share of the total number of clicks second to MakeMyTrip which leads the pack with 8.83%.
The other marketing tool that has gained prominence is the Social Media. Travel companies are increasingly targeting consumers directly on Twitter and Facebook to engage with the target audience through online communities to generate exposure, opportunity and sales. Social networking sites helps users plan their trips by getting tips from users, by browsing photos and videos, suggestion on itineraries. This is substantiated by the fact that Travel Information Sites drive 6.92% of the clicks to the Social Networking sites and Forums thereby standing fourth after Search Engines - 13.2%, Destinations and Accommodation (Travel) - 13.04% and Travel Agencies - 11.16%
To summarise, in India, behavior patterns of travelers are quite different from those across the world. The typical Indian traveler will:
* Plan a atleast three months in advance
* Plan a budget for the trip
* Is not averse to traveling by train and bus
* Will search for destinations that match the budget
* Search and view feedback and review of other travelers to these destinations using the social media
* Social media is fast emerging as a potent marketing tool for travel companies
* Will visit multiple OTAs in search of the best deal
* While booking flight tickets, will focus on the LCCs but will also visit the full-service airline sites.
