Travel Trend Forecast 2016 by HolidayIQ Insights
By BW Hotelier
HOLIDAYIQ HAS released ’HolidayIQ Insights: Travel Trend Forecast 2016’, outlining predictions in the Indian travel industry for 2016. HolidayIQ Intelligence is conceived as a series of reports on varying aspects of Indian tourism. The Data Intelligence team at HolidayIQ.com, collates data from multiple user actions of more than 12 million monthly users on the HolidayIQ, analyses and identifies trends that have emerged on domestic vacations in India.
Key Findings:
Experience-led travel continues to increase in 2016
Holidays are becoming increasingly experience-led instead of destination led. Activity based travel has expanded to include options for adrenaline junkies to music lovers and from soul seekers to foodies and everyone in between. Trekking, rafting, kayaking, jet skiing, surfing, scuba diving and snorkelling, jungle safaris, food trails, rural tourism, glamping, wildlife immersives among others will be the norm in 2016.
On HolidayIQ, there has been a growing interest in experiential holidays in the last 18-24 months. Travelers sign up for high octane adventure sports including Heli Skiing in Auli (Uttarakhand), Scuba Diving in Netrani Island (in the Arabian Sea), Dune Bashing in Jaisalmer, Hot Air Ballooning in Ranthambore, Sky Diving in Mysore, Zip Lining at Neemrana Fort (Delhi), Spelunking in Meghalaya or Kite Surfing at Morjim Beach (Goa).
Evolution of ’in-trip planning’-
Traditionally everything about a holiday ’ where to go, where to stay, how to reach, what to do, etc was to be decided before the trip began. The arrival of mobile apps on the travel scene have essentially created a new paradigm in travel planning, the ’in-trip’ paradigm. Today, travellers decide one or all of the trip planning questions on the go. In 2016, we see overall holiday planning to move gradually from ’pre-trip’ to ’in-trip’.
Domestic travel is increasingly becoming popular
According to data released by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, in 2015, the number of foreign tourists arriving in India is 5.7 million, number of international trips planned by Indian travelers is 18 million and the number of domestic trips planned is 1290.1 million. The scale at which domestic travel is poised to grow is tremendous. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Wayanad, Shimla, Goa, Jaisalmer, Coorg, Srinagar, Darjeeling, Manali and Ooty are predicted the top domestic hotspots. In international travel; places like Dubai, Maldives, Thailand, Singapore and Bhutan shall pick up.
Women to travel more in 2016
In recent years, the number of trips planned by women travelers is increasing. Solo women travel is increasing and so are group, family and couple trips planned by women. Solo trips will continue to gain momentum in 2016 and the average trip length will also increase to be five to seven days. Solo trips are gaining popularity across age groups and are extremely popular is the 18-24, 24-36 age groups. Destinations such as Kerala, Goa, Pondicherry, Manali, Auli, Shimla, Corbett, Bandipur, Coorg will be favorites among women travelers. Interestingly, holidays planned by women have a 17 per cent higher budget than holidays planned by men.
2016 to witness a rise in alternate accommodation options such as homestays
Hotels and resorts continue to be the popular choice as a holiday accommodation option accounting for over 60 per cent of trips planned. However in the last 18-24 months there is an interest in alternate accommodation options such as homestays, experiential resorts, camps, serviced, apartments, jungle lodges and the like. The share of travelers choosing to stay in homestays has increased from under 10 per cent in 2013 to 18 per cent in 2015 and is slated to grow to more than 20 per cent in 2016.
In 2016 Munnar, Goa, Coorg, Udaipur, Pune and Manali shall have the most popular alternate accommodation options.
Travel to be more visual and social
The proliferation of smartphones, better internet penetration and arrival of a plethora of travel apps is making travel more visual and social. Sharing moments from holidays on the go has become a critical part of the holiday experience in itself. In a recent survey conducted by HolidayIQ, more than 67 per cent of HolidayIQ travelers said they prefer smartphones for capturing travel photos, 16 per cent travelers used both smartphones and DSLRs, 11 per cent are DSLR purists, while three per cent used a digital point-and-shoot camera. On the HolidayIQ app, for every photo reviews submitted via a desktop, eight are submitted via the app.
Travelers themselves are the largest inspiration for others to travel. ’Social Travel’ the travel feed feature on HolidayIQ that is developed giving every traveller the ability to share and follow updates of other reviewers the traveller selects has garnered significant traction and this trend will continue to garner significance in 2016.
More unique destinations to be explored
The above table indicates that there is an increase in the number of destinations being explored which concludes that there is a large segment of people who are traveling for domestic holidays. From only 685 holiday destinations being explored in 2011 to 2300 in 2015, the number has grown rapidly showing a significant increase in the percentage of holidays being planned year on year. This percentage is predicted to grow further in 2016.
Road trips to grow further
Better infrastructure in terms of road connectivity, availability of transport options such as cabs, taxis, self-driven cars and more travelers opting for driving holidays has increased the popularity of road trips. With international trips such as Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia also now just a road trip away, this trend is slated to grow. Indians can now head on road trips will lead share of all holidays planned in 2016. Another segment which will see an increase is domestic flights, more travelers will choose to fly in 2016.
Travelers will continue to allocate higher budgets for holidays
Indians are starting to take their holidays seriously, in a large part due to mobile apps. Today, we find that people are traveling throughout the year; they are taking many shorter breaks, looking at the destinations that are a few hours’ distance away. They are also going for more experiential holidays. Budget travel is on the rise, where people are willing to compromise on accommodation and travel expenses. People are looking for more adventure and more destinations to fulfil their adventurous streak. The analysis on the total holiday budget paints a positive picture for travel this year, with travelers twice more likely to be increasing vacation budgets year on year than cutting spend. From the findings we have concluded that overall, travelers planned to spend more on their holidays in 2015. This is evident in the above table as the average travel spent, per person, has increased from Rs 1,086 in 2011 to Rs 3,764 this year. On an average, Indians planned to increase their total holiday travel budget by 30 per cent; from Rs 12,585 in 2011 to Rs 33,368 in 2015. In 2016 we see a proportion of travellers planning to travel more, and this number shall increase across almost all markets.
Share of Couple & Single travelers will increase, family & group holidays will decline
The share of holidays planned by couples and singles have consistently increased while the family and group segment see a decline. Hence 2016 shall witness the share of couple travelers crossing the 52 per cent mark, and single travelers - the 12 per cent mark.
Travellers from non-metro cities will travel & spend more than their counterparts in metros
With more people from more parts of India turning to travel as the primary leisure option, more destinations are being discovered. People from non-metro cities first discover destinations close home. People who travel often crave offbeat places. Over the last 18-20 months, we have seen an increased interest from non-metro cities. The report states that the spend on leisure travel is now maximum in non-metro cities and this number will continue to increase.
Weekend travel to increase
Holidays are no longer an annual affair but a reason to getaway every few weeks. Long weekends have changed the way travelers and the tourism industry look at the Indian traveler. This has created a market for alternate travel possibilities such as recently observed growth in Festive Tourism, Tiger Tourism, Wedding Tourism, Monsoon Tourism and the like. Travelers from metros are essentially discovering new destinations within a 200-300 km radius for quick weekend getaways. In 2015, close to 65 per cent trips planned were weekend getaways and in 2016 we expect this grow further by 10 per cent.
