Have you ever caught yourself searching for flights from work? How about booking a hotel room while on your daily commute? Or right before bed? If this all sounds like regular behaviour, don’t worry, you’re not alone. New research by KAYAK.co.in reveals exactly how many of us have succumbed to the travel booking bug, and the numbers may surprise you.
The research, compiled in the 2017 ‘Travel Addicts’ Survey, show we’re a nation of social media obsessed travel addicts, with 65% of us planning at least 5 or more trips for the next year. The survey, which questioned over 2,000 respondents across the Asia Pacific region, gives an idea of how Indian travellers tend to make their holiday plans, as well as what we do once we’re away.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you were the only person checking prices from the train, from the office or even from the toilet, have a gander down below.
When and where do Indian travellers book a trip?
When do you normally book your travel? Well, for 46% of travel planners from India, right before bed is their favourite time to check out flight and hotel prices – perhaps providing a little dream material before turning out the lights. We’re not alone in this – across the Asia Pacific region, it’s actually fairly common practice. Although India actually ranks highest in the region in this regard, 44% of Koreans and Hong Kongers, as well as 38% of travellers from Singapore also engaged in bedtime booking behaviour.
Another popular place to book is from the office – an activity shared by 46% of Indians as well as 48% of Hong Kong travellers and 38% of Singaporeans but only 18% of Japanese. Whilst these behaviours may seem normal to many travel planners there are those who have tried booking in even more interesting places – for example, 34% of Indian travellers have booked a trip during their commute on public transport, while nearly a quarter (24%) even admitted to having made a booking while in the toilet, significantly more than in any other Asia-Pacific country.
Are Indian people expert deal-finders, or do we simply have trouble making decisions?
In order to find the best deal for their trip, 47% of Indian travellers would open multiple browsers and websites to compare for the cheapest price, with the average amount of websites searched being four. Such ardent deal-hunting seems to be the norm in Asia Pacific, with a regional average of 49% of travellers happy to spend the time checking 4 or more sites to make sure they find the best bargain.
Although Asia Pacific travellers love a bargain, those from India may be amongst the most committed – for example 29% of Indian travellers are “deadline-fighters” – they are used to booking multiple hotels with free cancellations for the same trip/stay, waiting until the deadline to pick the best deal and cancelling the rest. Such booking behaviour is however not as common in Australia (23%), Korea (21%), Singapore (19%) or Japan (17%). The survey results also show that up to 36% of Indian travellers have gone as far as cancelling and rebooking the same hotel on the same site – simply because they see a lower price.
Social media when travelling
For many of us, wherever we go, our online presence is right there with us – sharing our amazing meals, views and activities. Amongst APAC travellers, Indians post the most – both during and after a trip, with an average of 10 posts per trip, while holidaymakers from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan post the least, an average of 4 posts. On the flip side, 24% of Australian respondents noted that they wouldn’t post a single picture on social media, preferring to completely shut themselves off from the virtual world when travelling.
After posting to their feed, 38% of Indian travellers say they would check their social media posts at least every few hours, to keep track of ‘likes’, whereas people from Hong Kong (44%) Singapore (38%), and Australia (34%) were more likely to check in only once or twice a day.
What about you? Do you also have some of these travel-addictive behaviours? Our hint for you is – don’t waste your time constantly checking travel prices and reviewing a thousand sites looking for the best deal. Let us do the hard part, by setting up a few KAYAK Price Alerts. We’ll let you know when the price drops as well as if we think it’ll rise again. And once you’ve got your trip planned out, keep all the bookings organised in Trips, so you’ll never miss a date again. That way, you can embrace the fun part of travelling, and let us handle the boring bits. Plan smart, manage well, and travel worry-free – with KAYAK.
Note:
The ‘Travel Addicts’ survey was carried out 2 – 11 October 2017 and surveyed 2,100 respondents across 7 APAC markets, including (in alphabetical order) Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, aged between 21 and 45, who have booked hotels or flights online in the last 6 months and have been on holiday.
