· Travel remains a priority despite increasing cost-consciousness
· Indians are big planners, with 72% of respondents preferring to thoroughly plan their trips
Skyscanner, the global travel marketplace, today released its Travel in Focus Report, which shares that budget-conscious travellers in India are embracing travel with an open mind to score more affordable getaways. With insights from Skyscanner’s proprietary search and booking data, and consumer behaviour study, this report uncovers key travel behaviours in India.
Data from the report highlights that Indians are savvy travellers (47%) who are flexible to switch their itineraries, when presented with better travel deals. When it comes to international holidays, Indians are also willing to pick a destination that is less expensive to travel to (35%) or travel at a different time of year (33%). This is in spite of the fact that Indian travellers are in fact, big planners, with 72% of respondents preferring to thoroughly plan their trips – further cementing how Indian travellers are seeking that sweet spot of travel and value for their holidays.
Commenting on the findings, Mohit Joshi, Skyscanner Travel Trends and Destination Expert said, “While the way we travel has no doubt changed in the last few years, the desire for a getaway is still very much there. Skyscanner makes it possible for travellers to explore the world within their budget, with its cross-market comparison and transparency of prices on its platform. An easy hack to hit that sweet spot, is to use our ‘Everywhere’ search tool, where destinations are recommended based on the traveller’s location, ranked by price. That way you get to explore, without breaking the bank.”
Other key survey findings:
· Chasing Cricket: Cricket holds a special place in the heart of Indians. Around 75% say that they are willing to increase their travel budget to experiencelive cricket matches. With the upcoming 2023 Cricket World Cup held in India, there is already a 46% spike1 in searches from within India to Ahmedabad, one of the host cities, for October this year. Despite strong demand, prices on Skyscanner reveal that flights to Ahmedabad from Mumbai are 36%2 lower for the month of June 2023, compared to June 2022.
· Slow Travelling Gurus: In 2023, Indian travellers are taking it slow, with more travellers (46%) opting for more immersive travel over of fast-paced travel (40%). Rather than visiting as many places as possible, travellers are looking to spend more time in a single destination, taking their time to immerse themselves in the local culture. According to Skyscanner data, over 38% of Indian travellers spend longer than 1 month on a single-destination trip, including domestic and international destinations, based on redirect data for the year 2023, which is significantly more when compared to travellers in Singapore (3%) and South Korea (8%)3.
· Purposeful Voyagers: Travellers today are looking to travel with purpose and centre their travel experiences around specific activities. Over half of Indians (55%) are planning purpose-related travel in India to engage in activities such as scuba diving, golf, yoga, or wellness retreats. One in two Indians are also actively planning a visit to holy places in the next 6 months.
For all the travel preferences flagged by Indian travellers as important, Mohit recommends the following hacks that can help bag a bargain quickly:
· The ‘Whole Month’ search tool allows you to see cheap flights immediately and pick the right deal for you. Consider travelling a day before or a day after your original departure dates, flying on less popular days of the week is always cheaper.
Skyscanner’s Whole Month Search tool
· Mix & Match to save ₹₹: Mixing and matching the airlines and airports you choose to fly with to and fro, can seriously cut costs. To save more, flights don’t have to be booked as returns.
Here are some options between Mumbai and the UAE on 8-15 September 20234. By mixing and matching, the lowest fare is via Route 3 by flying into Dubai and out of Sharjah on different airlines.
| ROUTE 1 | ||
| Origin-Destination | Airline | Fare |
| Mumbai (BOM) – Sharjah (SHJ) | AirArabia | ₹17,159 |
| Sharjah (SHJ) – Mumbai (BOM) | Air India Express | ₹7,008 |
| ROUTE 2 | ||
| Origin-Destination | Airline | Fare |
| Mumbai (BOM) – Dubai (DXB) | Oman Air | ₹11,144 |
| Dubai (DXB) – Mumbai (BOM) | Indigo | ₹7,596 |
| ROUTE 3 | ||
| Origin-Destination | Airline | Fare |
| Mumbai (BOM) – Dubai (DXB) | Oman Air | ₹11,144 |
| Sharjah (SHJ) – Mumbai (BOM) | Air India Express | ₹7,008 |
| ROUTE 4 | ||
| Origin-Destination | Airline | Fare |
| Mumbai (BOM) – Sharjah (SHJ) | Air Arabia | ₹17,159 |
| Dubai (DXB) – Mumbai (BOM) | Indigo | ₹7,596 |
· Be Price Smart: When you find a flight you like, with a price you don’t, set up a Skyscanner Price Alert. It will watch the flight you are interested in and send an email or push notification when prices change. This is the best way to find a deal if you have a few weeks or months before you are planning to buy.
Skyscanner’s Price Alert tool
Skyscanner’s Travel in Focus 2023 report draws on its research with OnePoll and analyses survey data from 3,000 travellers in Singapore, India, and South Korea to uncover key unique insights into travel behaviour, attitudes, and preferences of travellers in these countries.
