Features

Indian travel trends 2020

9 Jan 2020 by Nisha Shroff

As per American consulting firm, Bain & Company and Google India’s report on “How Does India Travel,” the Indian travellers took approximately two billion domestic and international trips in 2018, spending nearly US$94 billion on transportation, accommodation and F&B during their trips. According to this report, our travel and tourism industry is the seventh highest contributor to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that has increased from 6.7 per cent in 2013 to 9.4 per cent in 2018, nearing developed market levels such as the United Kingdom’s 10.5 per cent. The travel market is expected to grow by 13 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) this year, touching US$136 billion in 2021.

With this, it looks like the travel landscape will continue to evolve in/from India.

In 2020, we can expect varied travel trends to pop up. Airports are turning over a new leaf with their advancements in technology; a new breed of travellers will make smarter travel choices and deeper domestic travel will be on everyone’s bucket list. Here are our travel predictions for the year.

Expect a hassle-free experience without the burden of several physical documents! With the new biometric, face technology and body scanner systems, Indian airports and airlines are rapidly making their way through a fully tech-driven travel process. The work for this has already begun with India’s full-service carrier, Vistara piloting biometric-based self-boarding solutions at Bengaluru and Delhi airports.

Next-Gen Airports 

Hyderabad airport too has commenced a three-month trial of body scanner for passengers on a voluntary basis. Upon successful completion of the trial, which began on October 12, 2019, body scanners will be deployed across the domestic terminal for security check. If implemented effectively, the body scanner system will contribute towards an easy and swift security clearance.

Partly, the credit for this goes to initiatives like Digi Yatra, an industry-led scheme co-ordinated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to empower the nation digitally. Digi Yatra enables digital processing of passengers at the airport based on a retina scan; hopefully there is a lot more to come on this path.

Another company making its headway in this matter is NEC Technologies India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation (a Japanese IT company) that has recently bagged a contract from the Airports Authority of India to implement biometric-based boarding platforms across four airports in India — at Varanasi, Kolkata, Pune and Vijaywada — by the end of this year. Airlines like Vistara are also making efforts to empower India digitally. Commenting on their latest tech development, a Vistara spokesperson says, “Our effort of creating India’s first robot to assist travellers in our lounge at Delhi airport signals another upcoming trend, impressions of which are now also seen at other airports as well.”

Exploring India 

As Prime Minister Modi’s appeal to Indians to visit more destinations within the country continues, industry expert Ashish Dhruva, vice president, Cleartrip explains that the thrust on domestic travel will see more impetus in the year.

With India being the land of unique cultural diversity, Thomas Cook India has observed that experiential holidays are spurring the demand with a growth of around 18 per cent compared to last year, where travellers are seeking new and exotic experiences. Propelled by local art and crafts, tradition, nature and cuisine, ‘cultural tourism’ fosters social inclusion of communities while bolstering the demand of the destination. While Rann Utsav (festival of Kutch in Gujarat), Jaisalmer Desert festival and Bikaner Camel Fair in Rajasthan, Khajuraho Dance festival in Madhya Pradesh, Losar festival in Ladakh, Hornbill festival in Nagaland are popular experiences among travellers, destinations visited for their cuisines include Indore, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Goa, Kochi, Surat, Amritsar and Kolkata.

Moreover, ‘spiritual tourism’ will also pick up in 2020. Daniel D’Souza, president and country head leisure, SOTC Travel reveals that leisure combined with spiritual journeys are experiencing as interesting upward growth trajectory. Destinations such as Madurai, Rameshwaram, Dwarka, Shirdi, Pushkar, Mathura, Ujjain, Haridwar and Varanasi will see significant growth.

Pet-friendly Holidays 

The year is set to herald a new era in pet-friendly vacations in India. Ritu Mehrotra, country manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives at booking.com says, “We’ll see travellers putting the needs of their furry friends well before their own, when it comes to selecting where to go, where to stay and what to do.” According to the booking.com study, around 75 per cent of India’s pet owners (versus the global average of 55 per cent) feel that their pet is as important to them as their own child, and 66 per cent of them agree that in 2020 they would choose holiday destinations based on whether they can take their pets, as compared to 42 per cent globally. Moreover, 71 per cent would be willing to pay more to stay at an accommodation that’s pet-friendly, higher than the global average of 49 per cent.

India is also observing a rise in the number of pet-friendly properties such as the recently opened Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru and Mumbai’s Taj Wellington Mews. Cities in India such as Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Bhimtal are trending when it comes to pet-vacations.

Bleisure will remain king

We have been noticing this trend for a while, which is no more a buzzword among business travellers but a default. Bleisure travel is on a steady rise among Indian business travellers visiting both domestic and international destinations.

A spokesperson of GVK-led Mumbai airport states that India is a youth-based economy, and the importance of millennials in business travel is leading to the growth of this segment. He also says, “Business travellers account for only 12 per cent of the airline’s passengers but are also twice as profitable; there are times when business passengers even represent 75 per cent of an airline’s profit. Additionally, business and high-end travellers are also bringing substantial revenue to airlines by purchasing additional services such as frequent flyer and other loyalty programmes.” This is growing trend in business travel, where corporate travellers prefer to take day flights, while 75 per cent of business travel is to destinations less than 402 km away. In terms of long-haul travel, New York City is the most popular destination, followed closely by London, Dubai and Singapore.

According to a survey done by booking.com in 2018, 72 per cent of the Indian travellers choose to extend their business trips. Additionally, India ranked second amongst bleisure travellers across 31 countries. Likewise, Thomas Cook India has observed that bleisure travellers are increasingly opting for end-to-end experiences and are looking for a convenient interface for booking, that clubs trip management, customer service and expenses under one umbrella.

Cleartrip has also noted a rise in this trend. Ashish Dhruva, vice president, Cleartrip says, “Bleisure travel is increasingly becoming an alternative employee perk in India, and corporates are making sure to add leisure travel on business trips for their employees too. This approach encourages travellers to look forward to their business trips and see them as something more than just an official trip.”

Rebuilding tourism 

Sustainable travel will be the hottest trend of 2020. With climate change and environmental issues becoming front page news across the globe, this trend will have many different tags attached to it. One such tag is a traveller in support of ‘rebuilding tourism’ who will make a conscious effort this year to select locations where they not only have the chance to visit a wonderful destination but can also contribute towards the upliftment of a local community that is still recovering from a major setback. Such a traveller will also choose to explore destinations that have previously been affected by a natural disaster.

Agreeing to this, Mehrotra says, “Our latest research reveals that the year ahead will see travellers looking at the bigger picture when it comes to sustainable travel. Travellers are in support of rebuilding tourism, even if it means making small sacrifices.”

An ongoing example of this is a firm called Global Himalayan Expeditions in Ladakh that provides an opportunity to stargaze at Pangong Lake in the company of local women trained in basic astronomical studies.

Slow travel

Slo-mo will replace FOMO (fear of missing out). Instead of experiencing the constant FOMO and trying to speed through your journey as much as possible, travel in 2020 will be all about taking it slow and truly experiencing a destination at an unhurried pace.

Travellers will focus more on enjoying the trip in their own time instead of rushing through the hours with detailed itineraries. This year, 66 per cent of Indian travellers plan to take slower modes of transport to reduce their environmental impact, as compared to the global average of 48 per cent. According to Mehrotra, over three in four travellers would prefer to take a longer route to experience more of the journey itself. Also, types of transport that play into our desire to take the pace down a notch will resurface, from peddling bikes, trams, trains, sledges and boats, as well as our own two feet. Surprisingly, as per the study, around 72 per cent of the travellers don’t mind spending more time travelling to reach their destination if they are taking a unique mode of transport.

One such example is B:Live, a Goa-based electric-automobile based tourism company that uses e-vehicles to conduct tours. The vehicle is an electric bike that you can ride on roads, streets, mountains and beaches.

Booking trends 

Mehrotra explains that the staycation trend is growing significantly in India which involves booking last-minute getaways in home cities. They have also noticed that families and solo travellers book months before their travel while corporate/business trips are booked a week or a day prior. As per Cleartrip, in 2019, there was a growing shift towards impulsive travel marked by an increase in last-minute bookings. On the international front, solo and short-haul travel also saw an increase in last-minute bookings. However, peak seasons experience increased lead times with users opting to book their stays well in advance (almost two-three weeks prior).

Paytm Travel (a travel portal by the Indian e-commerce payment system company) has also seen a rise in impulsive travel bookings. A Paytm Travel spokesperson says that flight travellers are now booking their tickets around two weeks before the travel date.

There has also been a dramatic increase in e-payments compared to cash payments explains Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, co-founder and chief executive officer of hospitality chain, Zostel. There has been an increase in the usage of Unified Payments Interface-based payment apps as well as digital wallets like Googlepay, Phonepe, and Paytm being the leading ones.

A millennial world

Indian millennials are increasingly travelling the world and showing a keen interest in exploring various destinations across the globe. Scoot, the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines, has identified that about 60 per cent of its travellers from India in 2019 were millennials. Scoot is seeing growth in bookings made directly on its website.

Luxe-Homestays

The concept of alternative accommodation is growing with most Indians wanting to opt for it this year as well. They prefer exploring options like homestays, hostels, villas and other unique forms of accommodation such as Airbnb, Oyo and Zostel among others.

With these major brands trying to earn a piece of the alternative accommodation segment in India, joining the race are some leading hospitality brands such as Marriott International that have ventured into the home-sharing business with the launch of Homes and Villas by Marriott International across 100 destinations. The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), the parent company of Taj hotels, is also foraying the homestay category with a new business vertical called Ama Trails and Stays.

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